Bring Love To Me
by Eryessa
Summary: Love is a difficult thing. To find the love of someone else, you should love yourself first. But how is that possible when it's hard to love yourself? Can Dean Ambrose and Petula Clarke find love in themselves before they find love with each other? Or will backstage politics interfere in this? Or will it be Wade Barrett that interferes? Rating changed to M for Mature Content!
1. Chapter 1

She found the wallet laying on the floor, near a wall in the hall of that arena where Raw was being held at. With Money in the Bank nearing, as was usual with any pay-per-view, it was becoming more and more hectic around the WWE with staff and superstars. So picking up the black leather wallet, Petula looked at the driver's license.

"Jonathan Good..." she read out loud looking at the picture. "Oh, it's Dean Ambrose's wallet."

That was one of the people she didn't want to deal with. Not that she talked to any of the superstars, it was sort of looked at as a bad thing if any of the lesser workers came in contact with the talent in the WWE. Petula was just an electrical engineer, making sure that the lights and all the sounds and stuff like that were in working order for all the shows. Comingling with talent was sort of looked down upon, but it wasn't banned. It was backstage politics at play with this. It was worse especially with the divas, if they thought a female was honing in on their territory with a guy there was going to be some backlash to that.

Petula shook her head. She'd been watching too many animal documentaries with the other staff members.

Where would Mr. Ambrose be? The show hadn't even started, there was still about an hour Raw started, and the only place he could be was where they set up catering for the superstars. Not that she was willing to go through that area but Petula didn't want Mr. Ambrose to loose his wallet if she handed it off to someone else. No, this was something she had to do on her own.

The technician headed towards the catering area with the intent on giving the superstar his wallet back and leaving. But she didn't see him, instead it was one of the other Shield members she found on the way to catering. It was the larger Samoan, who was walking towards her with a bottle of water in his hand. Sucking up the courage, Petula sort of stepped out in front of him.

"Excuse me, sir." He stopped when she stood directly in his path. "I'm sorry, Mr. Reigns, but I found Ambrose's wallet. Could you give it to him for me? I'm in a bind and I need to get back to work." She could feel the heat coming to her face as the man looked down at her, then at the black wallet in her hand and then back to her face. "I promise I didn't steal anything from it, I'm just in a big hurry."

"Sure. Thanks." He said, taking the wallet from her. "I'll give him the message...what's your name?"

"It's Petula. Sorry, I have to go." She turned around and hoped that she wouldn't run into anyone, she wasn't that small to begin with.

Joe Anoa'i, known as Roman Reigns to the WWE Universe, watched the woman. She was afraid, he could tell almost instantly. He'd had seen his fair share of shy people in his life to know she was petrified of him. But still, Jon had been griping about loosing his damn wallet and it was good that a fan hadn't found it. It was quite possible if that had happened Jon would find his drivers license on Ebay somewhere.

"Hey man, one of the staff found this for you." Joe approached his other Shield teammates in the men's locker room, tossing Jon his wallet. "Better be grateful it was her and not one of your groupies."

"Shit, she take anything?" Jon dug into his wallet and a quick scan of it later made him smile slightly. "Great, everything's here."

"She told me she didn't take anything." Joe said walking to the locker where his things were.

"Did you get her name?" Colby Lopez asked.

"It was a strange name, Petula I think she said. She wears glasses and her hair is up in a ponytail. Kind of chubby."

"She's fat?"

Jon shoved the younger Shield member. "Come on, Dude."

"What, it was just a simple question." Colby tried to defend himself.

"Not obese but she was sort of...big...ish" Joe clarified. "But what can I say, I have Rakishi as a cousin. From my heritage, it's sort of normal."

She was looking at herself in the mirror, a feat that was sort of hard to do. In her mind she looked like a pear. Petula pressed her hand to stomach and grimaced at the feelings she got when she looked at herself. Ugly...ugly, ugly, disgusting...worthless. Words of hate filled her head as she looked at herself in the mirror of that rest room. She tried to be possitive about herself, telling herself the good she did, how well she treated others reflected back on her...but...sometimes that inner thought just wouldn't go away. Telling her that she was fat, ugly...no man would want her. No one would want that dark blonde woman with those dark blue eyes covered by glasses. The fat cheeks and her nose that was too big for her face. Ugly. Fat. Worthless.

Leaving the rest room, Petula stopped when a group of the divas walked in front of her. AJ made a sound, as she usually did around Petula, a snorting pig sound. Her friends Summer Rae and Rosa Mendes laughed a long with her as they kept on walking. She wasn't a diva, she wasn't beautiful enough to have a man ask her out. As she dabbed the tear that was forming at the corner of her right eye, Petula turned right of the rest room only to have someone grab her elbow.

"Hey there, Sunshine." She stared at Dean Ambrose, eyes wide behind her glasses as he released her arm. "You're the one that gave Joe my wallet, right?"

"Um, yeah. I did."

"Thanks. I almost had a damn heart attack thinking some fan found it." He smiled as he adjusted the tape around his left wrist. "I'm Jon, Jon Good."

"Petula Clarke. It's nice to meet you, sir." She said respectfully as she held her hand out towards him, which he shook in return.

"Call me Jon. Tell you what...how about you come out to eat with the guys and me after the show, my treat. You know, for finding my wallet."

"I uh...don't know." She said, nervously rubbing her arm. "I've got to help with set up on the Main Event and SmackDown tapings tomorrow."

"What time do you have to be there?"

"Eight in the morning for set up. I'm usually gone by the time the main show starts."

"Well, we'll try not to keep you out past your bedtime. Come on...meet me at the men's locker room after the show."

"Look, I don't think..."

"Don't think, do. Do what you want to do. If you're not there, well then I guess I'll leave you alone. If you are there...free food on me." He smiled at her, giving her the hundred watt smile that included the dimples he rarely showed as his Dean Ambrose character. Maybe Jon Good was different from Dean Ambrose.

But still, to go against backstage customs of all female staff staying away from male entertainers, that was something she didn't want to break. It was already hard enough for her to work in peace without having some of the more bitchy divas making fun of her. What more trouble could she get into with a bunch of men she didn't know?

Was it worth the trouble? Was she was willing to risk everything for a guy she didn't know?

* * *

**Yeah I know, I'm posting another story before I finished My Pretty Beautiful. Honestly, this idea came up and it sort of nagged me to write it since I'm so far ahead with MPB at the moment. This story has no relation to MPB at all. I just don't know if this will lead into something like MPB because that story is sort of my main focus right now.**


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't know what to do, Fiona." Petula said, looking at the other tech she was friends with. "I don't want to risk getting more humiliated by the divas but...is it worth it?"

"Worth what, having a good time? You haven't been out to a bar in...since you began working here." The raven haired woman said. Though older with a husband and a daughter, Fiona Neilson was the closest person to a friend that Petula could ask for. "And what's wrong with being friends with a superstar""

"There was that one incident..." Petula's voice dropped off, fiddling with the necklace that she constantly wore, the one her father gave her.

"You and spiders, I don't understand it. Why do you like them so much?" Fiona asked, shaking her head. She was referring to a strange necklace Petula wore, a real spider encased in a glow in the dark plastic pendant on a chain around her neck that was hidden under her uniform shirt.

"They're cool. If it wasn't for them, the world would be overrun by flies and other pests, we would die. Besides spiders, bats eats bugs. I have got to stop watching these animal documentaries." She stomped her foot as she ran a hand over her hair, tugging at her ponytail.

"See, and going out to have some fun is what the doctor ordered. And besides, it's not like he asked you out on a date."

"But it's with his friends...and I don't know who all his friends are."

"This is giving me a headache. You'll go out, you'll have some fun, you'll maybe get lucky and then you'll come back to your hotel, go to work tomorrow and maybe he'll leave you alone. That's the plan."

"And if the plan doesn't work out and he wants to..."

"Really, we're going down that road?" Fiona shook her head. "Let me tell you something, sweetheart. Before you fall in love with someone else, love yourself first. Right now, go out, have fun...drink some whiskey on my behalf, while I go back to my hotel room with my husband, listen to him snore in his sleep and everything will be fine in the morning."

But would it?

Even though she didn't work during the show, she still stayed around. Petula decided it was worth it. Maybe not in the long run but in that moment, she needed something to preoccupy her mind especially with those bad thoughts. But even nearing the men's locker room was hard to do...until he showed up.

"Hey, it's Petula isn't it?" The deep voice of Roman Reigns brought her out of her panic induced thoughts. "I'm Joe, by the way, Joe Anoa'i. Jon said he invited you out for dinner with some of the guys."

"Uh, yeah. I hope it's not a big problem."

"Hell no. It just seems odd though. You finding his wallet and then him looking for you. You must have something he likes."

"Is that supposed to mean something?"

He shrugged. "Jon's not like this with women. He don't treat them nicely, not like you. That's all I'm trying to get at."

"Talking about me, Joe?" A voice came from the doorway. "Don't ya think that's kind of rude?" He asked, tilting his head.

Jon's hair was wet from a shower but he hadn't combed it back, leaving it a jumpled mess of wavy curls. He still was scruffy but that was just something of his style, he shaved it when he felt it was getting too much like the ferret on Colby's face. Half the time he didn't care about impressing anyone, but at least he was wearing pants that didn't have holes in the knees.

"I'm only speaking the truth, Jon." Joe held his hands up. "I'm bouncing, I'm skyping my daughter tonight. Don't scare her too much, okay. She's actually pretty nice."

"She can hear you." Petula spoke up.

"See?" Joe smirked before walking towards the nearby exit door with his things.

Colby walked out of the locker room, saw Petula there and smiled. "Well hi. It's Petula, right? Name's Colby." He held his hand out.

She nodded as she shook his hand. "Petula Clarke. Nice to meet you."

"Punk should be along in a minute." Colby addressed Jon with that statement. "Barrett will be joining us tonight. I think he's trying to ditch Drew after the mayhem him and Heath caused at the last bar."

"Bloody hell, can't make heads or tails with that one." The tall Englishman walked out, backpack slung over one shoulder and pulling a wheeling suitcase behind him. "Hi. Who are you?"

"Um..."

"Petula's coming out with us for food and drinks." Jon clarified.

"Petula...like Petula Clark the singer? Mum was always a fan of hers."

"My name is Petula Clarke, but spelt with an E at the end. And yes, I was named after the singer. My dad's a big fan of hers." She smiled kindly at the thought of her father. "My father is half English and half French."

Jon glared at the other superstar as he slung his free arm around the girl's shoulder. "Fantastic, you and I are going to be good friends. Come on...let's let the rest of them catch up. We'll meet them at the car and you can tell me about yourself."

She didn't know what to do. Glancing at Jon, Petula mouthed 'Sorry' to him before allowing Wade Barrett to guide her down the hall.

"Uh oh, did the big bad Englishman steal your little fat treat away?" Brad Maddox asked coming upon the group. "Don't know why he would bother. She's not really worth looking at, or being seen with don't you think. Unless you think sex with BBW is your thing."

"Don't talk about her that way." Jon growled, inching closer to the newly appointed Raw GM.

"Or what, you'll attack me? You know the rules about fighting behind the scenes. Can't have that now can we?" Maddox laughed before walking off.

Petula stood awkwardly in front of Wade, or Stu as he was called outsde of wrestling. She listened to him talk about life back in Europe, how he misses his mother and stuff like that.

"You don't get true gentlemen around here, do you?" He asked after dumping his things into the SUV.

"What do you mean?"

"A gentleman that will open a door for a woman, hold out a chair for her...buy her dinner without her fighting for it, you know? Americans don't really have that."

"Um, to repay me for finding his wallet, Jon Good invited me out to dinner with you guys." Petula filled him in. "I decided that he was in his rights to thank me for it."

"Jon Good lives up to his last name." Stu mused seeing his friends approaching. "And there he is now."

Petula smiled at Jon slightly as he walked by. No...he wouldn't be interested in her. She was nothing, she kept reminding herself as he and Colby, along with CM Punk dumped their things into the back of the SUV.

"Hi, I'm Phil." The punk wrestler said when he noticed her standing next to the SUV. She looked out of place amongst a bunch of men like these guys.

"Petula." She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Come on, Pet." Stu held the door open for her. "Climb on in. We're all hungry men."

She looked at Jon who didn't try to look at her. Great, the one person she wanted to be nice to her wasn't. He'd gone above social acceptance of her and now he didn't want anything to do with her, she thought as she got into the SUV. Phil was the driver, Jon sat in the shotgun passenger seat while Colby took up the back seat.

Where they went to was a bar and grill in Dallas. There were a lot of those around. Stu held his hand out for Petula to hold as she was getting out of the SUV. Phil went ahead into the restaurant and the rest followed, a sulken Jon Good bringing up the rear.

Why was he so pissed that Stu was giving her all the attention? It's not like she meant anything to him, Jon knew that but it still felt bad. He was the one that invited her out, not the Englishman, not this crooked nosed badass brute that turned into a kitten at the mere mention of the word English was mentioned.

"So tell me, Pet, where were you born?" Stu asked.

"Dad moved to LA with his parents when he was twelve. I was born there in December of eighty-five, and I still live there now."

"Ooh, Hollywood. Bet you wanted to be an actress when you grew up." Colby said, thumbing through the menu.

"Uh, actually no. I'm a geek." She adjusted her glasses as she looked down at the menu. "I graduated high school when I was sixteen, got my masters in robotics engineering from UCLA as well as electrical engineering both on scholarships."

Nobody said a word. Well not for a while.

"Don't think badly of me, but why the hell are you working for the WWE?" Phil asked.

She shrugged. "There aren't many openings available for what I am qualified for. Actually Mr. Irvine helped me get this job now. I worked on the set of Robot Combat League, and when that was finished he suggested I apply for the technical staff. It pays great, and I like it actually. The traveling sucks but, it's a pay check I'm willing to work for."

"So wait, you build robots?" Jon finally spoke up, getting her full attention.

"Yep, it's a hobby of mine. I still do. I'm designing an RC robot right now in my spare time. It's finding the spare parts that's difficult. I keep it on the staff bus when I travel that way. Otherwise when I'm flying, they think I'm carrying a bomb."

"That actually happened?" Phil leaned forward on the table to look at her across from him.

"Once and it was the only time, too. After that I keep it on the bus."

Jon started patting around his pockets. "Damn it, left it somewhere." He grumbled after the waitress left with their orders.

"What?" Petula asked.

"I'm craving a damn cigarette but left my lighter at the arena. Shit..."

Petula reached into her pocket. "It's a nasty habit, but here." She slid the zippo lighter across the table to him. "Dad gave it to me before I left for the road. He knew I smoke occasionally but please don't loose it. It was his back on the force."

"Force?" Jon took the Zippo. "Your dad's a cop?"

She shrugged. "Was one once upon a time. I don't feel comfortable talking about it."

"Thanks, I'll give it back to you when I'm done." He said before walking away.

That was something she didn't want to talk about. Not in front of a group of guys she didn't know.

* * *

**It's kind of strange that I'm still writing this. But the idea won't go away. What do you all think?**


	3. Chapter 3

Jon stood outside letting the smoke fill his lungs before expelling the toxic chemicals. He'd promised himself he would quit, he had been doing a damn good job of it but...every time he got angry he would find a secluded spot and waste his health away. Waste his talent away if he kept this up.

"Fuck Cena and his boy scout needs. My body, my life, I can do with it as I want."

Fuck these rules about standing twenty-five feet from the building. At least it was Dallas in the summer and not New England in the winter.

"Come on, you ugly bastard." He said, looking at his reflection in the nearby window of the abandoned building next to the restaurant. "All of this over some chick you don't know."

But what was it about her that intrigued him? Sure she wasn't super thin, but she wasn't fat either, not in his mind. But when Stu just basically swept her off her feet, when she was supposed to be there for him, it annoyed the hell out of him. Petula, that was a strange name, he mused as he stomped out the remainder of his cigarette. He also made a mental note to ask about when her exact birthday was.

He came back in when their food arrived. The others were used to his sudden outbursts and temper changes, but not the short woman sitting awkwardly between Stu and Colby. When he arrived at the table Phil was telling Lucy about one of his experiences with a fan, making her smile at the story itself. She had a nice smile, Jon noted as he slid the Zippo lighter back across the table towards her with small smile of graditude.

Dinner wasn't all that bad and by around ten they all declared it was time to start getting back to the hotel for some well needed sleep was in order. The ride was mostly quiet on the way back, Colby was nodding off and Jon had decided it was time to sit next to Petula. When she went to lean her head against the back of the seat her head came to rest on his shoulder slightly. The thrill of it ran to his toes but that ended too when the ride came to an end.

"It was a lovely time with you, Pet." Stu said holding the door to the hotel open for her. "We should do this again some time, yeah?"

"Um, I guess that sounds fine to me." She smiled at him. "It was nice meeting you."

He took her hand and kissed the back of her knuckles. "As it was for me, Pet. Good night."

Jon was about ready to just walk away, to leave her alone. If she wanted anything to do with him, that was her choice.

"Wait, Jon." She stepped in front of him, making him stop. "Thank you, for inviting me out tonight."

That was an innocent praise to him. He had done something right for once.

"Sorry about being an ass back at the restaurant...I didn't mean to come off as a complete ass you you."

"No, it's okay. Like I said, I'm a partial smoker myself. If you ever need a light, I'm the person to come see. And I had fun. I haven't had fun in a while."

They stood in an uneasy silence. Neither really wanting the other to leave but both knowing they had to.

"Again, thank you, Jon. Good night."

She walked a few feet away from him when Jon said. "I'm glad it was you that found my wallet today. If it had been anyone else it would have been a different story." He smiled when she looked back at him. "I'll see you at the tapings tomorrow, don't worry." Then he headed to a different elevator, leaving the woman in the lobby to think about some things.

It was useless, she needed sleep. Yeah, sleep was all that she needed at this moment.

* * *

Petula arrived at the arena early so that they could get the changes of the sets down and up. She was thnakful for the work load she had because it took her mind off of the men that seemed to have cheered her up. Just thinking about Jon and Stu made her even more happy but more confused.

Fiona's husband walked up with a bundle of wires for the announcer table Petula was assembling it. "Here you go. My wife sends her regards to you and your future husband."

"What now?" She looked at the older man who was smiling, as she tried fitting the small screens into their slots.

"Your date last night."

"It wasn't a date. Though it was okay for the most part, there were four guys and one me. Nothing happened."

"Are you sure? Word gets around back here in waves you know. Just don't forget that." Jeremy said before walking away.

It was hard trying to be an electrical egineer in a company like this. Too many people attempting to get into her business. By the time she had accomplished putting together the announcer's table, she looked up. Not at anyone or anything in particular, but because the ring was right there in front of her she found herself watching some of the superstar practicing for their part in the show. Low and behold, The Shield. They were against The Usos and Justin Gabriel. Why hadn't she seen them when she was working?

Petula had just stepped away from the front of the announcer's table when someone thumped down exactly where she had been standing. A groan came from the man that was sprawled out on the floor mat, his black and blonde hair a mess from the work out that he had been having.

"You okay there, Colby?" She asked, standing at his feet.

"Petula, is that you? I thought you were an angel."

"As amusing as that sounds, do you need help up?" She asked moving around to his side.

"You are an angel. My teammates wouldn't do that for me." He said, his head coming up to look at her.

"Is your head okay? You're talking odd and you've got a strange smile on your face. Do you have a concussion?"

"He's okay. That's how he usually looks." Jon said, leaning on the ropes. "Get your ass up here, Rollins. We need to finish this."

Back flippng up, Colby pretended to dust himself off. "Well, that was fun. We should do it again."

"You are the strangest man I've ever met."

"Thanks, I'm glad someone notices." He smiled at her before pulling himself into the ring.

Jon watched her leave, enjoying the way she walked. Though her head was down, not up high like some of the other women he worked with.

"What do you think you're doing, Fatty?" AJ walked up to Petula as she was checking the connections to the big screens, the titantrons.

"I'm working right now, Ms. AJ." Petula responded.

"No, I mean what makes you think you have the right to hang out with our kind?" The brunetted turned her head slightly, looking over Petula's body. "No one wants a fatty like you. Big ass, big thighs, ugly face."

Clinching her jaw, Petula had to look away out of embarrassment, because this woman was right. Petula was fat, ugly, worthless...

"Know your place. Stay away from us. Your kind is not wanted around here."

"And what kind would that be?" The booming voice of Wade Barrett asked making the diva and the technician jump. For a big guy he can sneak up real quiet like.

"Stu, hi. Um..."

"Best be off with you, Mendez, before you go starting trouble." He said, and with a jerk of his head he watched the brunette walk off quickly. "You okay there, Pet?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Don't listen to her, Pet. She's angry because we won't give her the time nor day." He pushed a strand of hair from Petula's eyes. "I'm happy Jon Good invited you out. Maybe we can do that again sometime."

"I don't know." She responded, glancing over at the ring to see Jon grappling with one of The Usos. "I just wish..."

"What?" Stu's eyes followed where she was looking.

"I don't know what I want anymore. All I know there is something but I just don't know what it is."

"You'll figure it out one of these days. Don't worry." He smiled down at her. "I'll let you get back to work."

"Thank you."

She was grateful for when he walked away, leaving her to the job she was supposed to be doing.

* * *

**Yep, another update. How do you like it?**


	4. Chapter 4

Ugly...she stared at her stomach. Her fat cheeks, that fat nose. The double chin...she was ugly. She was fat and ugly. After everything she had accomplished, she was ugly.

He'd seen her looking at herself. Jon had seen her staring at her reflection in a window, and the look she had on her face was not one a woman was supposed to have. Jon wanted to know what Petula was thinking, but...he didn't know what to say to her. She was just a woman, yes an attractive woman, but still a woman. Jon Good didn't do good by women. They were all the same to him.

Women...forbidden territories to explore one night at a time. But this one was different. How, he didn't know but he wanted to get to know Petula better. But he figured she didn't want to get to know him in return.

Petula looked away from the window, shaking her head but she turned and found Jon standing there. He was ready for his match, he would be entering through the crowd like he usually did but the area he was in was where she was head to leave the arena.

"Hi." She said walking by him.

"Off the clock, Tula?" Jon found himself calling her and the woman instantly stopped to look at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"No, it's okay. Pet is the pet name my Dad gives me. And Stu likes to call me that as well. Tula sounds fine. Look...I..."

"Let's go out, just the two of us." Jon said. "I want to know you better but I don't want anyone else to bother us." Why was he doing this, Jon asked himself. "If you don't want to, that's okay, too."

"I would, Jon, really I would but I have to travel to the house show. My shift leaves on the staff bus in like twenty minutes and I need be there. I'm not doing anything after Monday's Raw show. Can we go then?" She asked, hoping she didn't freak him out.

"Sure, that'll be great. But can you answer one thing for me real quick?" He smiled a real smile, she could see the lines appear at the corner of his eyes. It made her wonder why he was smiling like that.

"Yeah, sure."

"You said you were born December of eighty-five. When?"

"December tenth, why?"

"The seventh for me." Jon smiled, liking the idea she was close to his age. For once he didn't feel like he was robbing the cradle.

She smiled at him. "I guess we have something in common. I got to go. See you on Monday."

It was later that night after the show, Jon was traveling to the next venue with Joe and Colby. Colby was texting his girlfriend Leigha, Joe was driving and that left Jon with his thoughts. She wouldn't want him, Jon mused silently as he stared through the windshield in front of him. Not with his problems.

She was attractive to him, and he didn't know why. Petula was interesting but he didn't understand anything about her. Other than how old she was, that she was a super genius in his mind but other than having some weight issues...he didn't know why she was attracted to her.

He had been a bad guy during his indy fed years. He even regretted making a comment about picking up ugly chicks at bars just to have sex with them. Yes, he appreciated the female variety in all their looks and sizes now, but...he still couldn't trust them. With conflicting interests in this one woman, Jon groaned.

"Something on your mind, Jon?" Joe asked.

"Nothing, Man. Just...shit going on up here." He tapped his head.

"It wouldn't happen to be about that little techie chick that isn't so little?" Colby asked, instantly regretting it.

Jon whirled around in the front passenger seat and hit the younger man in the head. Not hard enough to leave a mark, but hard enough to leave an impression.

"I'd say that would be a yes." Joe remarked as Jon turned back around in his seat. "Please don't kill him, Jon. I sort of need him as tag partner."

"Shit man. You don't even know her, barely." Colby clarified. "And from the way you were looking at her during the practice session before the show, you couldn't have been more obvious."

"I don't like her in that fucking way." Jon growled.

"If you don't, why are you getting pissy about it?"

Joe stepped in. "Come on guys, I don't want to have to choke one of you out. I swear this is getting annoying. Why can't you leave him alone, Colb?"

"I'm just that damn annoying, I guess." The man replied before fishing around for his dropped phone.

Finally, some quiet.

But Jon's mind is not a good neighborhood to be when it get's quiet.

* * *

The RC robot was her objective at the moment. It kept Petula's mind occupied until her phone rang.

"How is he doing, Ms. Ray?" Petula asked.

She listened to the person on the other end. Nervously she ran her tongue over her lower lip as she took off her glasses. It hurt to hear what the caretaker had to say, it hurt to know that she couldn't be there for him. She needed the money to care for him and this was the only way she knew how.

"Okay, Ms. Ray. Thank you for the update. Tell him I love him for me, please."

Worthless, she couldn't be there for her own father. No...she was worthless, as a daughter and as a human. Fat, ugly...worthless. Fat, Ugly, Worthless. That was her motto. That was all she ever was. That voice in her head was right. It sucked that the voice in her head was her own. It would be disturbing if it was some other voice.

The only thing that took her mind off of the pain of being a failure, was working on the RC robot. Maybe when everything had settled down it would be a good to find something she was more or less interested it. Not some superstar that wanted nothing to do with her, not this ugly, fat thing she was.

"He wouldn't want me." She mumbled, closing her eyes. "I wouldn't want me."

All her life she was a vibrant girl, smarter than the average person her age. She had a gift with electronics, lights and things like that. Actually that's what made her different from other people. She was autistic, she had Asperger's. Petula never admitted it to anyone because she knew that would make people look at her different. She didn't want to be different, she didn't want to act different so being shy and anti-social was the best that she could be. She learned to watch her mouth around people, but when the topic was on something she liked, it was fine.

The fact remained, she was never going to be enough. Not for herself or for others. Her thoughts haunted her everywhere she went, agreeing with the comments that she was ugly, fat, a failure. It just stacked up over time. Depression, anxiety...she nearly had a heart attack when Jon touched her as she walked away from the ladies' rest room. And with everything going on at once, it seemed like she was loosing control.

"Petula, what are you doing up?" Fiona asked, walking into the room.

"Working on my RC robot. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Honey, you didn't. So, how was the show?"

"I left before it started. Jon wanted to ask me out to dinner."

"Did you say yes?"

"I said no at first. But that's because I am busy this week. So I said yes for after Monday's show because I don't have to travel far for the Tuesday tapings." Petula said, putting down her screwdriver. "But what if he doesn't want me. I don't want to feel like a failure again."

"Honey, you're not a failure. You're just a little different, that's all. A super genius."

"I'm not if I'm stupid. I don't even know how to get thin." Petula really felt like she was going to cry. She hated herself that badly.

Fiona made the younger woman look at her. "Look, Petula, you're different, yes. But look at yourself. Who says you're ugly? Who says you're fat? I mean, that Englishman has taken a shine to you."

"Stu Bennett is just being nice. He stopped AJ from making fun of me."

"See, that's a true gentleman. I wish I could have married a gentleman, but I'm stuck with a man that does women's makeup for a living. He does makeup better than me and he isn't gay."

"There's nothing wrong with being gay."

"All the good men are gay, honey. But then again, a gay man is a woman's best friend. You can talk about guys and cloths at the same time."

"What if he likes the same guy as you do." Petula asked, making a reasonable question.

Fiona opened her mouth to answer, but snapped it shut. "I don't know, honestly I don't know."

"Sleep on it, give me the answer tomorrow. I promise I'll go to bed on time tonight. I just wanted to get my mind off of some things. Thanks for the talk." Petula said, turning back to her RC Robot.

Giving an exaggerated yawn, Fiona nodded. "Yeah, better get back to my husband. God forbids he wakes up without me next to him. Get to bed soon, Honey." Fiona was the only person that Petula ever really let touch her. Stu touched her, yes, but only because he thought it was okay. At least she didn't freak out then over being touched.

* * *

**Well, not entirely the way I had wanted it to go. What do you think? I'm still working on My Pretty Beautiful and someone mentioned that I said Lucy instead of Petula, sorry about that. **


	5. Chapter 5

Petula started her day like any other Monday. But this day was different. She met Stu at the hotel where she was staying at. It's not that she didn't like Stu, but she really didn't want to be running late on a day she decided to walk. Besides, it would help her loose some weight.

"Hello, Pet." Stu had said as he approached her but he wasn't alone. Two other European wrestlers were with him and when he saw her face, he knew she was having an issue. "These two are my mates. Drew and Stephen. This is Petula Clarke, the Pet I was telling you about." He said in reference for his two friends.

She felt small, small and fat. Nothing was going like she wanted it to and it was disturbing her. Today she decided to go for a walk, she wanted to walk to the arena because it was maybe a mile from the hotel, and she wanted to loose some way so why not? That's all she wanted to do and yet these three men were stopping her.

"We were going for a run." The Scotsman said, he was the one named Drew. "Looks like you could use a run yourself."

Petula jerked, she had not expected a friend to hit another friend. She hadn't expected to see Stu lash out like that to his friend. Nor had she expected Stephen to do the same thing. The Scotsman wasn't hurt though, he was big like those three and could handle himself. Now she was slightly scared of them even though she knew she shouldn't be.

"Sorry about him, Lass, he opens his big mouth too much for his own good." Stephen said, still glaring at the younger European.

"I was going to walk to work today." She hefted the backpack on her shoulders again just to do something. "I have to go now or I'm going to be late. I don't really want to be late."

"I'll walk with you. I have nothing to do this morning."

"I would be boring for you, Stu." She argued.

"Eh, better than being with that nitwit." He points to Drew, who is still rubbing his head from where Stephen had hit him. "He's got his horses all lined up wrong."

"He has horses?" She couldn't help but to ask that. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. Your statement sounded weird to me."

"Don't worry, Pet." He slung an arm around her shoulders, again. She didn't mind, but it seemed a little difficult. He was so much taller than she was. "I've got nothing better to do."

To her it was a little weird that he would be so interested in her. She had nothing he would be interested in. Stu was a stranger to her, she didn't do well with strangers and as far as she could tell, Stu was a friend at this point if he was calling her by her Dad's pet name for her. Pet...it was a calming trigger for her. Her father's voice wasn't deep like Stu's but they had the same accent. She grew up with that accent so it was nice to hear it from time to time.

They set off together and luckily Stu wasn't touching her now. It's not that she didn't him touching her, she just didn't like being touched in general and she had no reason for it. Stu only really did that when there were other people around, like he was parading her around, at least that's what it was like in her mind.

"Did you get that robot working yet?" Stu asked as they crossed the street together.

"Not yet. Still need some pieces. There is a hobby shop I want to go to but I promised I would go to dinner with Jon."

"Good, you mean Jon Good, The Shield guy?" She nodded. "Why?"

"Why would I go to dinner with him? I don't know. It's the nice thing to do since he invited me out the last time."

Stu had every intention on telling her that Jon Good was no good. He was a proverbial one night stand guy. Stu had seen several women leave that man's hotel room crying and he knew that was something Petula should have to endure.

"So do you have a bloke back home waiting for you?"

"My Dad is the only one waiting for me back in LA. I'm useless with men."

"Oh come on, now." Stu nudged the shorter woman slightly. "I don't think you are."

"You don't know me enough to make that assumption."

"Maybe I will, Pet. Get to know you I mean. If we're going to be friends, we need to get to know each other."

She wasn't sure how that was going to work out.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" It seemed plausible to her, he asked her the same thing earlier.

"Well, not right now."

"And you like me because..." she drawled that out a bit.

"Because...I don't know. You're just someone I can talk to, Pet. You have some of the most interesting things to say, even if you don't like to be around people."

"I'm sorry." And she was. She was sorry that she couldn't be around people, well a lot of people anyway.

"For what?"

"For not liking to be around people." She shrugged as they came to the end of one block.

He laughed, making her look at him. "But you don't mind being around small groups of people, right?"

"I suppose not. It was all right at the dinner with you and the others. It was nice even though I wanted a smoke."

"Why didn't you go out with Jon if you wanted to?"

"He looked like he was in a bad mood. I don't like people to be in a bad mood around me because then I get in a bad mood and it blows up like a transformer."

Stu was enthralled with this woman. Sure she didn't have the looks and personality like most women, she seemed oblivious to his advances, and that she was using sentences that didn't really make sense. Still, this dark blonde woman was...intriguing.

"So, what made you get interested in robots and robotics?" He finally asked after a brief pause in the conversation to cross another city street.

"You can control them, control is what a person wants, whether it's with someone else or yourself. I like that I can control the currents of electricity to do what I want. Sometimes it's just easier to be around inanimate objects, they don't talk back. Animals are the same."

Stu knew he was going to like this woman.

* * *

Jon puffed out some smoke, enjoying the feeling of his lungs expelling the toxic fumes. It felt good to relax like this after a hard work out, especially if Colby was involved in it. Still, the little idiot loved proving himself to Jon and Joe, eating them easily.

"Annoying little ass." He mumbled to himself.

Then his mind turned to the woman that seemed so different. He hadn't really encountered a woman that actually smoked, unless you count the ring rats he often found. Or rather they found him. He wondered if Petula, Tula as he preferred to call her, was like them. She didn't mind Stu's pressence, though he knew she was quiet. She talked when she wanted, but she seemed to listen better. It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for, he knew she was going to be a challenge but in a good way. Maybe this one was different...maybe he would try to be a human for once.

Just at that moment, he saw her. She was walking outside while talking on her cell phone. She looked sad about something. Her hand was buried into her hair, pulling it painfully. All he wanted to do was go up and tell her to stop that, to stop hurting herself over something her boyfriend was probably talking about. Hell, he didn't even know she was dating anyone. But she got off the phone when he approached, still pulling at her hair.

"Hey, you better stop doing that, or you'll pull a chunk out." She hears Jon's voice say. She looked up at him, startled more than anything.

"When I talk to my Dad's caregiver I want to pull my hair out sometimes." She said lowering her hands from her hair, after smoothing it out.

"Caregiver?"

"He's in a home because I can't look after him, like I usually do. He's got a brain tumor and it's effecting his memory. Half the time he doesn't remember me. And when he gets like he doesn't know anything then he makes things worse for the home. I call every day, not in the morning because he's asleep. I call midday and at night if I can. Remembering time zones suck."

During her little rage fest, Jon looked her over. She seemed like she was a little lost. Jon felt around for his pack of cigarettes and held it out to her.

"Sorry, I smoke Camels, the taste isn't so harsh." She said, shaking a hand and her head at him. "The gesture is nice though."

"So, what happened this time when you called?"

"He's getting worse. The tumor is pressing on vital parts of the brain that need to function to sustain his life. They moved him into a hospital, thankfully the State is paying for that."

It hurt him to know that she was actually hurting, empathy wasn't something he was strong with. That's okay, neither was she.

"Are you still interested in going out to dinner tonight?" He asked.

"I still want to, but...I don't know. I have to talk to my supervisor about going back to LA to see my Dad before he's gone."

"How long have you been working for the WWE?"

"Several months but my supervisor knows that I'm doing it to support my Dad while he's being cared for by other people. It's the only way I can earn money to pay for his care."

"So why don't you go talk to your supervisor now, tell him how your Dad's doing and I'll postpone the dinner until later."

"I guess so. It's nice that you said that stuff."

"Hey, I'm not totally a cold hearted bastard. Unless you sleep with me."

"Well, I don't want to sleep with you." She bit her lip. "I mean, I'm not into that kind of thing. I just...want to focus on my job and not galavanting around like a floozy, that's what Dad use to call loose women."

Even if she rambled onto something, he didn't care. Jon was too interested in her to focus on her obvious issues.

"Your dad was old world wasn't he?" Jon calmly asked, trying to get the conversation off of something like her Dad dying.

"He came from the Old World, so yes. I like the word floozy better than slut, even though it means the same thing it's easier to say floozy without feeling uncomfortable."

Jon smiled. "I would like to give you my number, so you can call me."

She looked at him, really looked at him. Usually she focused close to the eyes but she didn't like looking at people in the eyes. It made her feel uncomfortable if she looked someone in the eyes. She heard it was the window to the soul once, that freaked her out.

"I guess. I mean, I don't want to put you down."

"Family comes first, Tula." He liked calling her that and she didn't seem to mind it. "Wish my family had the same love and caring for each other like you do with your dad."

"Thank you, I think. Those are kind words. Um, sure. I would like your number. I'll probably be gone for a week, if I'm lucky." She held her phone out so that Jon could put his digits in for her. "Thank you, again. Um, I must be going now. I like talking to you, Jon, reall I do. I just have to..."

"I get it, don't worry, Tula." He watched as she walked away, almost running that is.

She really liked talking to him. Jon shook his head. Now he was acting like a damned teenager.

* * *

**I know it's a slow process but bare with me. I still have another story I'm invested in, and these updates will come in small jumps from time to time.**


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't like she had anticipated doing it. She wanted to see Money in the Bank but...Petula looked at her phone. Sure Jon had given her his number so that she could call him but...was it worth talking to him. Her father was on a ventalator now, he was unconscious. At this point it was almost a week since she had gone back to LA to be with her Dad and she hadn't called him. Was he waiting for her, was he going to talk to her even after a week of not talking?

"Dad, I'm going to be right back." She got up from the chair next to his bed. She wasn't sure if he could hear her or not but Petula knew that she needed to get out of there.

The hospital was big and busy, it's not that she hated germs, she just couldn't handle so many people. The work she did wasn't bad, it's not like she was surrounded by the crowd at these events. Her Dad didn't have a lot of time left and she was being bombarded by questions she didn't know the answers to. It was like she was expected to know them but she didn't.

"What the hell do you want?" Jon's voice demanded.

"Jon, it's Petula, I'm sorry." She didn't mean to cry, but...everything was going wrong all of a sudden. "I'm sorry, I'll call you back."

"Tula, what's wrong? I'm sorry if I snapped at you." She heard shuffling around in the background. "It's like eight in the morning here."

"Again, I'm sorry. I just...needed someone to talk to."

Oh God, he heard her choking up on the other end. Thank goodness he was in a room to himself. By now, Jon was sitting up and rubbing one eye from sleep. "You can tell me, Tula. Really, I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's just early from this end."

"My Dad isn't going to last long." She said, sitting down on a bench outside the hospital. "I don't know what I'm going to do, I'm his last relative and...I don't know what to do. We've talked about this before he got worse and he said he would like to be cremated...so that he could fly with the wind."

"If that's what he wanted then you should do it, because it's what he wished."

"I know. I just don't know how I am going to deal with him being gone." He could hear her about ready to cry. "Dad was a police officer before he started getting the headaches and they found the tumor. He was fine at first but...then it started to go bad. It was cancerous and the cancer spread throughout his brain. The tumor itself was big, and where it was located was too dangerous to be operated on."

"Oh Tula." She heard him say.

Jon didn't know what to do. He had never been in a sitaution like this.

"Where's your mom?"

"I don't know, she left when I was two. She left after..." she didn't want to finish the statement, she was too embarrassed.

"After what...Tula."

"I was diagnosed with a type of autism, they called me a sevant. I'm highly skilled with electronics and I am good with learning that stuff. But...I'm socially a weirdo."

That wasn't something he expected to hear over a phone conversation.

"So you're a little different..."

"Try a lot different, Jon. I...I ramble sometimes, about things no one else is interested in. I like things that others don't. Useless facts retain in my head, and sometimes I don't understand simple comments that someone say to me. Stu was telling me that Drew doesn't have his horses lined up right and I actually thought Stu meant that Drew actually had horses."

Jon took a deep breath, now he understood. Now he got it.

"I don't care." He said, leaning against the head board, starting to crave a cigarette.

"You don't? I'm a freak..."

"No less than I am." Jon smiled to himself. "And besides, friends stick together. I'm not going anywhere. Besides back to sleep if I'm lucky."

"Then I should let you go. I don't want you being tired all day. If you're tired, you'll get grumpy. You don't look nice when you're grumpy."

"That's an under statement, Tula. But thanks, I'll take my grumpiness out on Colby. He deserves it half the time. Call me if you need anything."

"Thank you, Jon. I like talking to you. Bye."

She hung up, and when she did Jon flopped back onto the bed. Did it bother him that she was autistic? No, not really. It's not like he had any intentions other than getting to know her. And it hurt to know she was hurting and neither of them knew what to do about it. That's what bothered him. He shouldn't be feeling this way about a woman he hardly knew.

* * *

Stu hadn't seen his little Pet in three weeks and he was starting to miss her. Two Raws and the Money in the Bank Pay-Per-View had passed and he hadn't seen her working like she did. Then the Raw three Mondays after MITB he sees her assembling the ring. Well what better time to go see where his little Pet had gone off to for that long.

"Pet, there you are." Stu said approaching.

She looked at him, not in his face but sort of. She was so...withdrawn it seemed. Petula, though usually brighter than this, was sullen in some ways. Stu wondered what he could do to bring a smile to her face.

"Pet, hey, what is it? Where have you been?" He asked.

"I had to go back to LA to be with my Dad. He died." The way she put it made him curious. Was she even sad about it? "I took his ashes to his favorite spot, a cliff that overlooked the ocean and spread them out there. And to keep my mind off of loosing him I decided to come back to work."

"Are you sure, maybe you mum..."

"She left when I was two. She left Dad in charge of taking care of a disabled kid." She went back to tightening the ropes that connected the ring posts together. "I'm sorry if I wasn't there for Money in the Bank, I wished you could have won."

"Thanks, Pet." He smiled slightly, even though the word disabled seemed to put him off.

She wasn't going to say that she also wanted Jon to win, she would have liked to see either of them holding that case instead of that annoying Sandow guy. Not that she knew anything about what goes on with wrestlers behind the stage but she knew where she stood. She wasn't even really supposed to be talking to them.

"Look, I would love to take you out for a meal. Supper sound fine after the show?"

She looked at him, she short hair waving as she moved her head. Petula didn't know what to say to him. Should she tell him that she was already heading out to dinner with Jon after the show?

"How about tomorrow night, after the tapings? The crew doesn't leave until Wednesday anyway. I would like to have that time with you."

She wasn't trying to play them, she just wanted to spend equal time with these two men who didn't seem to care about her misgivings in life. Even though she still thought she was fat and ugly, still worthless because she couldn't properly be there for her Dad, being around either man made her think less about that sort of stuff. To Petula, she was gaining friends, something that she never really experienced in life.

That's all she really wanted, she wanted friends and people that just accepted she was different.

"All right, Pet. Tomorrow after the SmackDown taping. I want to take you out to a special place."

"I don't like dresses. Never have and I probably never will." She said it with a monotone voice, Stu had a hard time believing that she was serious. "I don't like fancy cloths, dresses or heels. I just want a turkey burger or something."

"Sure, Pet. Anywhere you want to go is fine with me."

She smiled, she was happy that he still agreed to what she had said. That just made her even a little more grateful.

Elsewhere, Jon Good needed a smoke and badly. He'd wished he'd grabbed his pack from the locker room, but instead decided to go outside. He hadn't seen Petula, his little Tula, since she returned. He'd hoped to have seen her, but she called him and told him she was going to take him up on the dinner after Raw. That's why he wanted a smoke, to get this strange nervous feeling off his chest, he wanted to feel the toxic fumes invading each cell of his lungs, now that would preoccupy his mind.

What he found was a sight to behold. He saw Petula lighting up a cigarette just outside the building. He watched her inhale and then exhale, snapping the Zippo lighter with a flick of her wrist, like a pro.

"I'm impressed, Tula..." he watched her spin around. "You play around with that thing when you're doing nothing?"

"I used to play a lighter game with my Dad. He'd show me how to flick the lighter and spark the flame. I practiced for like three months on a daily basis until I perfected it." She flicked the Zippo top and a flame appeared on it. "I came out here to think, I didn't want to worry about our dinner plans later." She silently offered him her cigarette and he happily took it from her, taking a well needed drag off of it.

"Why would you worry about that, it's just dinner between two people."

"Because I think I made a mistake."

"What...by accepting my offer. I'm not going to let you back out of it."

"It's not because of you, Jon. It's something I did. I don't know how, or if I made a mistake in doing it."

Jon was confused, probably as much as she was. "Well, are you going to tell me or are we going to mime it out?"

"Stu asked me out to dinner too." Oh shit, Jon thought handing her the cigarette back. "I told him no for tonight but I said yes for tomorrow. And...it feels strange."

"Why?"

"Because I said yes to both of you, it makes me feel like a floozy."

"As friends, that's all we're doing, Tula. Whatever Stu has planned, I don't give a shit what you do with him." He said as she handed him the cigarette for another few drags. "Look, Sunshine, you are an adult. You just need some friends."

"Yeah, I don't have a lot of those around anyway, just the head makeup artist's wife that seems to care about what I'm going through."

"The gay guy has a wife?"

"Wait, everyone thinks he's gay?" That actually amused her.

"Because he does makeup probably better than any female around." Jon smiled. "So you smoke if you get anxious, huh?"

She shrugged. "It helps the nerves. It's the only bad thing that I do, aside from not really doing much exercise." Petula ran a hand over her stomach.

"Well, I'm not a licensed trainer but...I could give you a few pointers. And if you want, you can ask Stu about teaching you boxing. He was a bareknuckle fighter back in Europe."

"I don't know, maybe. Thank you for the suggestion. Where do you want to meet up after the show?"

"Right here is just fine. I'll have the guys take my crap back to the hotel and we'll catch a cab." Jon motioned between the two of them.

"Okay. That I can do. I don't have anything to do for the show. I'll find something to do. You can finish that if you want to."

"Great, thanks."

Jon knew about autism, there was a kid that was autistic in his neighborhood back in Cincinnati and his little cousin would play with that kid. The boy preferred baseball, baseball anything. Too many times he'd play catch with his cousin and that kid and hear about basball stats from every Major League player out of Ohio, or others that caught the kid's attention. But that kid hated being touched and he never looked anyone in the face.

"Wonder what happened to that kid?" He mumbled stomping out the cigarette before following Petula's path back into the arena.

* * *

**Well that was interesting to say the least. What did you think?**


	7. Chapter 7

She'd never been religious, it was one of the things that she could never really understand. But there Petula was, fingering the St. Michael pendant around her neck. For the longest time she never wore anything around her neck, she had this fear of being choked in the night, but this was her father's old police pendant, and St. Michael was a protector of the police. But it wasn't about having St. Michael, it was another thing of her father's that she had.

Petula was nervous, but because she didn't want to smoke she was rubbing her thumb over the St. Michael pendant. This was soothing, it reminded her of her Dad and how he soothed her. So in a round about way it was like her Dad was soothing her. The one thing she was going to miss was his thick English accent.

"You're spacing there, Tula." She heard Jon say, making her head snap up.

Jon was walking up with his two Shield friends. Sure she's met Joe but he still scared the daylights out of her, for no particular reason. Maybe it was because to her Joe was a mountain, even if Jon was just as tall. She didn't know why Jon was less threatening than Joe but this was irrational to her. Colby was the one that spoke up.

"Hey, Jon told us about your Dad. Sorry to hear about it. How's your mom taking it?"

"I wouldn't know, she abandoned us when I was two. She just didn't want a family like ours, I guess." She responded glancing at Joe again.

"Tula and I are heading out to eat. Could you guys take my stuff back to the hotel for me?" Jon asks, changing the subject.

"Sure, Man." Joe responded as they began heading to the car that they arrived in.

Petula followed and watched as each man hefted their stuff into the trunk of their rental car. To her it looked like a game of Tetris, watching the squares and rectangles fit nicely into it. That Brain Games show on NatGeo said that men have better spacial reasoning than women, like memorizing the ways of getting a packed trunk to fit together. Women were better at reading directions to the fullest extent. Of course that wasn't always that way.

"Something on your mind?" Joe's voice interrupts her rambling thoughts.

She shrugged, holding her arm in front of her by the elbow. "Just thinking mindless thoughts. I'm good at that."

"So's Jon, when he's got his crap out of order. Move it, Man." Colby complained.

Jon didn't move, or move faster as he put his stuff in the trunk. It was like he was testing the half blonde and half black haired man, seeing if he could get him mad.

"Well, thanks for grabbing my gear for me. Lock it in the car when you get back to the hotel, I have the spare key with me." Jon said stepping away from the trunk. "Come on, Tula, let's go. I'm really hungry."

"What do you want to eat?" She asks as they head away from the arena.

"I was going to say whatever you want to eat." Jon shoved his hands in his pockets.

"As long as it's not sushi, or seafood, I'm not much of a picky person. I'll say what I don't like, so you should give me your options and I'll say if I like it or not."

At least she's honest, Jon mused as they turned down a street near the arena. "How are you doing, with your Dad being gone?"

"I don't know. Truthfully I've come to terms with it long ago, when we figured out what the problems he was having. I knew he was going to die, he knew it, too. So instead of taking his life he rode it out for as long as he could. I just...dealing with this sort of thing isn't what I know or understand how to do. I know Neurotypicals, NTs, grieve for loved ones, but...I loved my Dad...it's just confusing. A page turns, if I don't like what's written there I move on to the next page or the one after that. I don't like my Dad being gone, but truthfully, he's been gone for three months. He wasn't my Dad, but then again he is...does that make any sense?"

"Honestly no. You lost me at NTs."

"NTs or Neurotypicals are what normal people are. Normal thinkers, they understand feelings, and social stuff, but I don't. I nearly had a panic attack because I agreed to go out to dinner with you and Stu, thinking that you would be mad about it because...irrational thinking."

"We're friends, Tula, you and me." Jon stopped at the corner to wait for the light to change. "You can have a choice in the matter of who you would want to go hang out with. I'm just...a little shocked you'd want to do that with me."

"Hang out with you, why would that be a shock?"

"I'm not the nicest guy to be around if you're a female. Honestly, you're the first I've ever really connected with on a personal level. Usually I just...lead them to my bed and force the out in the morning."

"I guess that sounds plausible. I have a hard time making friends as it is."

"You're cute when you ramble though." He instantly regretted saying that as the crossing light turned for them. "When you get excited about something, your face lights up and you have this...happiness to you."

"I like your dimples when you smile. They show up when you're really happy, that's the only way I know that you are happy."

He was impressed that someone would notice that.

Dinner consisted of Mexican food. They talked about the usual things that normal people did to get to know each other. Jon was interested in Petula's intense interest in robotics. He happily listened to her as she described her time with the Robot Combat League as a robotics engineer. She was happy about that, really happy. It was when her father was alive to know what she was doing.

"What about you? Was wrestling what you wanted to do?" Petula asked as they left the restaurant.

Instead of taking a cab back to the hotel, they walked. Jon was loving this conversation so it was a good thing they had time on their hands to get to know each other.

"Yes, I've always wanted to be a wrestler. ECW was my favorite one at the time when I decided to become a wrestler. Have you ever watched it?"

"No, only when Chris suggested it. He told me that I would be good for this job. But I didn't know anything about the WWE so I had to research it. I think the only reason why I took this job was because I needed to support my Dad's health."

"And now, what will you do?"

She shrugged. "There's nothing here that I want but I need to find a different job first so I guess..." Petula groaned. "The first time I actually get some friends, and I just want to leave. Maybe I'll stick with this job and see where it takes me." She looked up at the night sky. "There's this one place back home that Dad and I would go, out in the woods where we could see the stars. I love looking at the stars, but the only constellation is Orion. I see constellations like circuit boards in electronics."

Her dark brown hair, though short, was darkner now in the night. Jon wondered if her hair was soft like it had felt she she was leaning her head on his arm.

"When I was younger, I would sit on the roof of my apartment building and watch for shooting stars. I'd wished to get a new life because mine was so shitty."

"Did you grow up on the wrong street in a city?"

"Yeah. My mom wasn't the best mom in the world. I didn't even know my dad."

"My mom left, I think because she found out that I was autistic. Then Dad was left with me to take care of, me and my problems..."

"Tula, listen to me. I know about autism, my little cousin's best friend was an autistic boy who had this obsessive liking for anything baseball. I know what it is, I understand it. Just because you like robotics, with a hgih IQ like you do, you don't have anymore problems that I do."

He didn't care that she was different? She'd thought he would go the other way, call her a freak or something.

"I don't know what to say to you, I don't know if saying thank you is enough. Because it feels better to know that someone isn't going to judge me. You understand me, you...just are you." She tried to voice what she was thinking but it was hard to do it.

Jon didn't mind, he was grateful that she understood that he didn't judge her for having Asperger's Syndrome. He earned her trust somewhat.

But what does he do about these feelings that were starting to come alive within him?

* * *

The next day, Petula had to work during the tapings of SmackDown and Main Event. There was a rash of stomach flu going through a lot of the techs, luckily she had by passed that. Fiona and her husband gave Petula a ride that arena and she was greeted by Stu. Jon had told her that The Shield only had a small place in the show that night and would be leaving early, which left her with more time with Stu.

"Ready for tonight?" He asked as he found her assembling the ring.

"What's going on tonight?" AJ asked, appearing out of nowhere. "Are we having a date?" She looked between Petula and Stu. "You know what the others are going to say about this. Especially if it involves Ms. Piggy."

"You gained some ballocks there, AJ. What brought this on?" Stu asked, coming to stand between both women. "And tell the truth."

Ms. Piggy, she hated her body. Her ugly, fat body. Petula felt her throat close up on her, like she couldn't swallow. Stu shouldn't have to be nice to her just because she was a little different, because she was fat. But there he was making sure that AJ wasn't getting anywhere near her.

"Come on, to be seen with that...that thing, it's rediculous. You could have gone after one of the makeup artists, the hairstylists, hell even the wardrobe people...you choose that." AJ motioned to all of that was Petula. "I mean really, a fat slob?"

"Enough!" He took a step towards the shorter woman, who stared at him in shock. His roaring command made Petula jump as well. "Go, get out of here. If I see you harrassing her, I'm sure I can get you for harassment, you little floozy."

AJ was mortified, Petula was shocked, but he didn't hit her, he stood up for Petula and it intrigued her. Why would he go against the backstage politics for someone like her? Petula wondered this, as did AJ, who now half ran away from the tall Englishman.

"I don't understand...what did I do?" She asked, making Stu turn to look at her. She was staring at the ring post. "I didn't do anything to anyone. Why is this my fault?"

"It's not your fault, Pet." Stu's voice was gentler now. "You've done nothing. It would have been worse if you actively sought me out."

"But I didn't. The only reason why you know me is because I helped Jon." She glanced at him sideways, while still trying to work. "So in a way, it's my fault."

"Pet, look at me." She did, or sort of, she was looking at his mouth. "It's not your fault that you're breaking the boundaries around here. It's okay to want to be friends with the talent. I'm bloody happy that I like you. It's been a while since I met a woman who actually knows what she's talking about."

"I like that you think like that, Stu. It's hard for me to make friends." She said as an uneasy silence fell over her.

"So are we still on for tonight?" He asked, trying to change the conversation.

"Yeah. Um...I was hanging out with Jon the other night. I'm having some weight issues but I don't know the first thing about exercise. He said that he would help me, but he made a reference to you being a bareknuckle boxer. Since boxing is a healthy thing to do, I was wondering if you could teach me."

"I could, yes. Actually, I've never had a woman ask me to before."

"Why? It's not their thing or what?"

"Well, around here, not really. Sure some of the blokes do stuff like that, but besides Kaitlyn, I don't think any of the divas are interested in boxing."

"Oh." And keeping a conversation with anyone was a hard thing because then she was afraid she would be laughed at. "But I would still like to learn. Having a healthy lifestyle is a good thing."

"That's a good way of looking at it, Pet." He smiled.

But it still loomed in the back of her head, would he accept her?

Would Stu accept and understand that she was autistic?

* * *

**I guess that's a good chapter to post. What do you guys think?**


	8. Chapter 8

Stu liked it when she laughed, and he was the one that made her do it. Petula and him had gone out to eat after the tapings and ended up with a dinner of fair food and he tried to show her how to swing properly with a punching game in the fair arcade. He told her not to keep her wrist limp like a wet noodle and she just busted out laughing. It wasn't meant to be funny but she found it funny.

"What's so funny?" He asked, looking down at her.

"Limp noodle, I remember one time when Dad and I tried to make spaghetti together, he told me the secret to know when the noodles were done. He took a noodle and threw it at me, making it stick to my glasses." She pushed her glasses up on her nose. "We ended up having a spaghetti noodle fight, and we sort of lost all the food and went out for Chinese."

"So you lost one noodle and decided to pick up a different type all together?" He mused as he followed Petula from the arcade.

"Of course. I like Chinese, except for the sushi." She shrugged.

The Englishman was enjoying himself. They talked about Europe, since she had never been there and about their academic achievements. They talked about their personal likes, sports were his thing while electronics and robots were hers.

"How did you decide that you want to get into robotics?" He asked as they walked through the midway part of the fair.

She shrugged. "It's something I've been interested in since I was a little kid. I think it started when I was four or something like that when Dad had a broken computer that I fiddled around with."

"You were four and you were into all that?"

"Higher IQ yeah, I was advanced for my age. And when something broke around the house it was my job to fix it. Pet, the telly's out. Pet, can you fix the power box, I think we blew a fuse. You know that sort of stuff. RC cars were my favorite. I would take them apart, figure out how they worked and then make my own out of non-RC cars. One time, I built a toy for a kid that lived next door, not because I was being nice but...just for fun I guess. I always figure out ways to make something work or do something that it wasn't meant to do."

"Bet your friends loved that about you." He said.

Then she went silent. "I didn't really have friends, I didn't know how to make them. I had one or two maybe. But I suck at long distance relationships. Dad was the only constant one in my life. Now that he's gone...I don't know what to do."

"What do you mean?"

She told him about how she wasn't sure if working for the WWE was worth it now that she didn't have to support her father. Sure she still had bills to pay, her Dad's life insurance could do that for her and she would still have some left over, but really she didn't have a reason to stay as a tech for the WWE.

"I could go to Hollywood and work with special effects, stuff like that." But the way Petula said it, it made him wonder something. "It's something that I want to do, but..."

"But you're not sure now?"

"I guess you could say that. I mean, you're nice and all, Stu. You and Jon are great guys for wanting to get to know me. But...I've got issues. And now with my Dad gone, it all seems useless that I feel I want to stay here because of two guys that are trying to be my friends."

He wouldn't push the issue, he could tell that she was having a hard time describing what she was thinking and feeling. She could describe a motherboard to him, but when it came to her thoughts and feelings, it was like she didn't know how to do that.

Petula went about a normal pace within this night. They had food, they found out that they both went to unversity and gotten degrees in their chosen fields. But what it was about the six foot seven Englishman was that he had the similar accent she was so used to. It was familiar, it was securing to her. It was attractive to her in some way.

"I had fun tonight, Pet." Stu said as he escorted her back to her hotel room. "I'd like to do it again."

"Um...I guess we can do that." She smiled at him as she unlocked her door. "My schedule is usually the same. I don't usually have anything to do after shows so...next Tuesday again? Take me somewhere that you want to go. I want to know what you're interested in."

"All right, that we can do. Uh...do you mind if we hang out with my friends, Drew and Stephen?"

"The Scotsman and the Irishman? Well sure, if that's what you want to do. If we're going to be friends I guess I have to get to know your friends as well." She stood awkwardly in the open door to her room. "But right now I would like to go to bed. I'll see you next week?"

"Of course, Pet." He smiled. "I'll see you next week." Stu started to turn away, to head back to the elevators when Petula called out to him.

"Wait, can you give me your number? That way I...that way I can call you between then?" She held her phone out to him.

Was she making a bad choice? Petula wasn't sure as she watched Stu put his number into her phone. Is this right? Jon said he didn't mind Petula being friends with Stu, he even suggested she take boxing lessons from him. But people say one thing and mean something else entirely. So...this wasn't bad. Was it?

* * *

Stephan looked up from his nightly routine of crunches when the door opened. It was Stu, smiling like a school lad. "What do you have on your mind, fella?" He asked resuming his crunches.

"Just had a good night out. Is that a crime?"

"Was it with your Pet?" Stephan smiled.

He didn't answer right away as he dropped onto the bed that was his. "Yeah, it was. And I can't stop thinking about how she is different from other women around here."

"How so, aside from the fact that Drew thinks she's fat."

"The world doesn't revolve around looks, mate. At least I don't. Look at me, I'm uglier than shit and she still...she lost her Dad a few weeks back."

"Bleeding kidding me, and she's back? Shouldn't she be grieving or something?" The Irishman asked standing up from the floor.

"I think she doesn't know how to. She loves talking about him and she looks happy about it. And...she's just different. On a personal level, she's different than any woman that I work with."

"Different how?"

"She wants to learn boxing, bloody boxing because she thinks she has a weight issue. So she has a little weight around her tummy..."

"I know all about that." Stephen sat down on his bed, looking at Stu. "So she wants to loose weight?"

"I guess. I wanted to tell her that she didn't need to change but..I was sort of shocked that she asked me for help. We're meeting up next Tuesday and she asked for my number."

Stephan laughed. "This is the first time in a while that you've excited about a girl. What's changed it?"

"Seeing her hurting. It's this look of confusion when I find out that AJ's been giving her problems about Petula's weight. She calls my Pet ugly, fat, probably a while lot of different things we don't know about. But there is something else..."

"What?"

"Dean Ambrose, he's got his eyes on her as well. But the way she talks about him, he's just a friend. I don't buy that."

"You don't buy he just wants to be a friend to her?"

"No." Stu stood up and began pacing. "You know his history with women, you've seen him with floozies coming out of his room in the mornings. He just wants to bed her and get her out of his system."

Stephen didn't comment. It's not like he knew Jon Good at all, but he knew of his women ventures. Was he capable of hurting a woman like Petula? Was he capable of doing something like that to a woman Stu suddenly has his eyes on.

Was it possible that she didn't see that in return, Stephen wondered as he watched Stu get ready for bed.

* * *

**Sorry if this was a little bit shorter than usual. Aside from that, how do you like it?**


	9. Chapter 9

She needed another opinion from an outside source. That's what Dad did when he found out that she was autistic, he went to someone he didn't know for an opinion. Maybe that would work for her. But who could Petula ask about this? Surely not one of Jon's friends, they would tell him she came to them for help, and with Joe still a scary obsticle she had to overcome, that wouldn't help her. She wasn't even going to ask Stu's two European friends, she didn't trust Drew at all. So who else could she ask for advice? Fiona, no...she barely had a relationship with her own husband let alone give Petula any advice.

"You seem to be deep in thought there."

Midflick of the Zippo lighter, Petula looks up at the man she knew as CM Punk and Phil. She was not smoking, for once. She was thinking while flicking the lighter. It eased her mind if her hand was doing something and since she couldn't work on the RC at the moment, it helped.

"I'm thinking about something." She replied, looking down. "I've got a problem, I think I have a problem but...I'm not anyway sure. So I'm trying to identify the issue I have and working towards a solution."

Not the most obvious answer Phil was looking for from her. Her glasses dangled precariously from her nose as she stared at nothing, while flicking that zippo lighter. Phil looked her over, where the usual tech cloths the workers wore and sneakers. She didn't wear work shoes, she wore sneakers and black socks. Why did he notice that, he wasn't sure.

Petula looked at him. "Is it good for two men to like a woman at the same time?"

"In a love/romantic way, it's probably not a good thing. As friends kind of way, well depends on the guys involved. Why, do you have that problem?"

"Yes. Jon Good and Stu Bennett, both interesting men. One who makes me comfortable because he speaks in the same accent as my Dad and then there's the other, who is as strange as I am and who understands me. I'm afraid that if I tell Stu about my autism then he'll run away. I've had that happen before on numerous occasions and I just don't want that."

"You're autistic aren't you, Sugar?" Phil asked, leaning on the same light pole as she was.

"How did you figure it out?" She questioned, not looking at him fully but close enough.

"That..." he motioned to her, mainly to her face. "That right there. You can't look a person in the face. Your constant pondering of something social that you can't understand. Your guy issues. And you don't socialize, not in big groups at least."

She nodded. "I have Asperger's Syndrome. Social cues aside, I don't make friends real well because I don't know how."

"You walked out of it when you brought Jon his wallet."

"No, I brought Joe Jon's wallet. I can't look at Joe for long because he scares me."

"I figured it would have been Colby that scared you."

"No, he's more pleasant to look at even if he is odd to me. Joe...scares me. I guess he's a nice guy for not yelling at me, thinking I probably took his friend's wallet...but it's just irrational for me to think like that."

Phil looked at her, watching her flick that lighter with a new found passion. Flick Schnik it went. Every three flicks and schniks it would light up before the process went over again. She was agitated and in the years with the WWE he'd seen young fan after young fan come around with all sorts of issues, disabilities. She was a conflicted young woman who...by all means, just didn't understand it was good to have more than a single friend.

"I need an outside opinion. I can't go to Stephen, the nice one besides Stu, and I won't go to Joe because I'm scared of him. Colby...is strange to me and I'm not sure he would tell his friend." She finally admitted. "Can you be that outside source?"

"Hey, I can't give you relationship advice, I suck at that field myself. First you need to figure out your issue. Is it that you have friendship feelings with Jon and Stu at the same time?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Are you afraid that the other would get jealous?"

"I'm afraid to spend more time with one over the other, so yeah I guess I don't want either of them to get jealous. From the sounds of things, neither are the other's friend outside the ring."

Phil nodded, mulling it over. "Can I be totally honest with you, Sugar?"

"I'd like none other, please."

"Well, since I haven't spoken to either of them, and from what it looks like as an outsider, you might have a problem on your hands." She finally looked at him in fear, pouty mouth was slight open from shock. "You might have two men who at first might want to be friends with you but also want to be something more than just friends. Lovers, maybe."

"But I don't want that, not yet at least."

Okay, even that broke his heart. Phil looked up, sighing.

"Okay, Sugar, let's see if we can't figure this out for you. Has either of them mentioned any sort of feelings towards you?"

"Jon...he's said he'd want to be friends with me. He recommended that I take up boxing lessons from Stu to help me with my weight. I'm fat."

"That's where you need to stop, Petula." She looked at him. "You need to stop putting yourself down. You're fine, pretty."

She glanced at him. No one's called her pretty, well her Dad called her beautiful throughout her life but no one that was not really a friend told her she was anything. Phil called her pretty and it made her feel better about herself.

"But I'm still interested in loosing some weight, and boxing is more interesting than some of the things I see the divas do."

"Are you having any issues with them?" Phil knew how some of the divas could be, some of them weren't the nicest.

"One so far but...Stu seems to be the one that is there to get her off my back. She likes to comment that I am fat and ugly, she called me Ms. Piggy the other day." Another flick of the lighter.

"Who?"

"I...I don't want to start problems."

"Come on, Sugar, I want you to know that you're not going to start problems. But you have to trust me a little. If a diva is going after you, you need to speak up."

She flicked the Zippo lighter once before speaking up. "The diva is AJ. She's got this us or them idea, a backstage politicy or something that I don't understand. I don't know why she's so mean to me."

"Because you have something she wants maybe. I don't know what that is but...maybe she's jealous of you."

Could that be it?

"I miss my Dad." Petula found her hand reaching up and running a hand over her St. Michael pendant.

"What happened?"

"He died from a brain tumor. I was there, but I don't know what to do without him. If I have questions about this kind of stuff I go to him. He was my constant, he never changed...it made it more bareable to feel normal. But then he started changing, forgetting small things and getting headaches. Then we find out that he's got an inoperateable brain tumor and can't do anything about it. He started to loose his memory of me about three months ago. And finally two weeks ago, he dies. And I don't know what to do."

"Well, you're doing what you need to do now." She glanced at him. "You're mourning. You're telling me it hurts that he's gone and it is. When my grandmother died, I was heartbroken beyond Hell and back. Eventually the pain goes away."

"Like a page in a book, it keeps turning until something else comes along."

"Yeah, I guess that's one way of looking at it." He reached out and tugged on a lock of her short brown hair. "It'll get a lot easier as time goes on. Come on, let's go inside. I'll grab you a beer."

"I don't drink, but I'll take a Pepsi, since you wear one on your arm." She said, smiling at him slightly.

At least she found someone that she could trust. Sure he was older than her but she wasn't scared of him.

Jon looked up when he saw Petula and Phil approaching, both with Pepsi bottles in their hands. The moment he saw her smile at him, that happy feeling returned to his chest. But Jon was with Joe and Colby, and Petula didn't dare look at Jon because he was with them.

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Phil asked, stopping.

"It's good. How're you doing, Petula?" Colby asked. She assumed that he was at least somewhat a little bit of a friend with Colby.

"Better." She answered, glancing at Joe again, fiddling with the soda bottle. "Better now. Um, are we still on for tonight, Jon? I'll stick around like last time if you want me to."

"Sure thing, Tula." He smiled pushing off from the wall. "We got to go get ready for the show. I'll see you later tonight."

And then he and the rest of them walked off...Joe looking back at her over his shoulder.

* * *

**Eh, this was the best that I could come up with. How do you think I did?**


	10. Chapter 10

What happened that night on Raw was something that Petula didn't want to know, she didn't want to remember. She thought Drew was a friend, but apparently she was wrong, like she usually was when it came to people.

Monday nights, after Raw, became her night to be with Jon. But because of her issues with people she had opted to go look for something else to do. Petula wasn't sure about anything when it came to the ruckus when Raw was on. She liked disappearing before the show, going off and doing things by herself. The other coworkers in her shift left her alone, she wasn't stuck up, she was nice and respectful, she just didn't socialize well with other.

"Hey." She looked up from that stupid phone of hers. "What are you doing there?" Drew Galloway asks walking up.

"I downloaded the WWE app for no reason other than to watch the show."

"Why don't you just go out into the audience and watch it?"

It was a good question, one that she had a hard time with. "I don't like being surrounded by people. I feel like I can't breathe."

"Well that's stupid." The Scotsman said making her feel worthless at the moment. "It's fun, you should try it some time."

"I don't think I will, but thanks for the suggestion, Drew."

He laughed, a bark of a laugh. She was having a hard time understanding what it was that he thought was funny. It's not like she had anyone else to talk to at the moment but she didn't want to make Stu's friend think she was a problem.

"I asked Stu if it was okay if you, him, Stephen and me go out somewhere after the tapings tomorrow." Petula found herself saying, trying to get the feeling of failure out of her system by making a conversation.

"Why? Scared of the big bad Englishman?"

"He's not the one I'm scared of. And...I just want to get to know him better as a friend. I want to get to know his friends and you are a friend of his, right?"

"That's a stupid question to ask, of course I am." He puffed out his chest a little more. It reminded her of a gorilla or something.

He wasn't paying attention to his words. The way he was saying these things made Petula feel like she was stupid. She didn't know how to respond to him, to his words. She could understand them well enough but...it was hard at points.

"So..." she was afraid of saying something that would embarrass her in front of someone like Drew.

"Are you trying to gain something here?"

"Gain what?" Petula didn't know what he was talking about.

"The last bird that was with Stu used him...played him. Are you going to be the same? He's head over heels in love with you and he's already been hurt. You galavanting off to be with Ambrose..."

"Jon's just a friend, Drew. He and Stu are my friends. They are easy to talk to, they don't scare me. You scare me, you and your words. I don't understand what you are trying to tell me."

"I'm saying that you are just playing Stu. I know your type. Workers that want to make it into the big times by sleeping with the superstars. You're probably no different. I mean look at you...fat and ugly."

Fat...Ugly...Worthless. Those words flashed through her mind as Petula tried not to cry.

"Not as ugly as you." A booming voice said approaching. "Got anything better to do than messing with her?" Joe Anoa'i and Colby were making their way towards them.

"Hey there, Angel. Come on, I'm going to take you back to Jon. He got worried that you didn't stay in your usual place." Colby said smiling at the shorter woman.

Petula couldn't have been happier for them to be there. But did they know, did they know she was autistic? Did Jon tell them? He didn't seem like the kind of guy that would do something like that. Maybe they were looking out for her because she was Jon's friend. Nevertheless, she willingly left with Colby, allowing him to put his hand on her back to steer her away the other two men. This left Joe with Drew alone.

"Starting something, Galloway?" Joe asked.

"Fuck, man. She's just playing your friend. I know her kind. She's just playing with them. And besides, she doesn't belong in our groups."

"What is that supposed to mean? Our groups? I wasn't aware of any rule that said we couldn't talk to or be friends with the workers around here." The Samoan looked the Scotsman over. "She's shy, and for whatever reason Jon likes her."

"Yeah, so does Stu. And Phil...and anyone else that wants to fuck a fat ass like her."

Joe shoved the European against the wall. "Stop calling her stuff like that."

"It's true. Do you see her? Or what, you want to fuck her too?"

"How superficial can you be? I mean really, look at her."

"I do, and you know what I see?" Joe asked, inching closer to his face. "I see a girl that's better than you. Tell you what, mess with her, mess with a Shield girl, and see how far you get with us. I'm betting if Jon finds out, which I'm sure Colby's already told him about you, your friends won't stop him."

Joe looked Drew over before leaving.

It wasn't over. Not by a long shot in Drew's eyes.

* * *

She was worried. Jon, Colby and Joe had a match against the men called The Usos and Christian. One of the Usos, as she learned a cousin to Joe, had kicked Jon in the face and he was bleeding from the side of his head.

Phil was watching her. He'd decided to stay with here while The Shield went out to their match. Did she in some way have romantic feelings for Jon? Was it possible that she just didn't know how to express this to Jon? But then there was the whole Stu issue. Had she told him about being autistic? Phil wasn't sure about any of the thoughts that were rolling around in his head as he watched Petula worry about Jon's safety.

"Hi, Phil." AJ said coming up. "Oh, hi to you, too."

Petula didn't answer, her sole focus was on the match. She'd never watched one in her life, sure she did when it was Money in the Bank but this was different to her. She was there when it happened, and even though she was worried he didn't seem phased by it, by the pain.

"What she so worried about?"

"Jon's bleeding. She just worried about her..."

"Boyfriend? I heard she's playing Jon and Stu at the same time. You're a real skank aren't you?" AJ asked, nudging Petula to make her pay attention to the conversation about her.

The short haired brunette looked at AJ, her big blue eyes wide behind her glasses. "I'm not."

"Oh come on, admit it. You're fiddling with both men's emotions. Or you're just too dumb to notice that both of them want to screw you. Or did you already do it. Which one did you do first?"

"Stop it, AJ!" Phil yanked her away from Petula. "Where the hell do you get off giving her this shit?"

"It's not like she can understand. I heard you two talking. She's autistic, that means she retarded." AJ gave that sinister smile she was so good at. "Maybe you shouldn't talk like that out in the open. Anyone can listen in."

"What's your game, AJ?" Phil stepped between her and Petula. "What is it that you find so fascinating to torment her?"

"Well now a lot more than before. I just thought she wanted to bed both men but it seems like she's playing with their emotions. Drew told me..."

"Do you believe everything a two timing ex-married man has to say?" Phil asked.

"Please, Phil. Look at her..." AJ looked around Phil. "Where'd she go?"

Petula wasn't there, she had disappeared it seemed like. That was one of the things she was good at, disappearing without anyone noticing her. She didn't know where she was going, she didn't have anyone...well sort of. Petula had gone off to look for someone and ended up finding Stu as he was leaving the men's locker room with Stephen.

"Pet...oh God Pet what happened?" He asked, as she looked up at him helplessly.

"People hate me." She said. "There's you, Jon, maybe Colby and Joe, Phil...but...but..." she leaned against the wall pressing her hands to her face, her shoulders shaking.

Stephen looked at Stu, who pulled the little brunette into his frame. She stiffened but she didn't pull away. She was getting used to his voice, his smell, he was something familiar to her and it helped in a way when she felt like she was nothing.

"Pet...what happened?"

"Your friend...that's what happened." She said, feeling his hand on the back of her head as he pressed it into his chest. "And then he told AJ...who called me names. I don't know what to do."

"What did Drew say?"

"How did you know it was Drew?" She asked, looking up at the Irishman. Not fully.

"I saw him talking to you earlier. But The Shield intervened so I thought you were okay then."

"I...was talking to him. I told him about how I don't like being in crowds and how I wanted to get to know your friends, Stu. But he always made the comment of 'That's Stupid.' And after a while I thought he was talking about me. If my opinions are stupid then I must be stupid, too. And then he accused me of trying something with you, because some other woman played you. Fat..ugly...I'm worthless. I couldn't...I couldn't..." she was about to have a panic attack, because just thinking about what happened earlier just brought it all back as if it were happening now.

"Get her to Jon." Stephen said. "His match should be over right now, he ought to be in the trainer's tending to his head.

"Come on, Pet. Let's go." Stu said, smoothing his hand over her back.

She didn't want to cry, not in front of people she didn't know. Petula was sure that they would laugh at her. No...this was not what she wanted, this was not where she wanted to be. Maybe she would quit, but that would mean never seeing Jon or Stu again. As she thought about this, Stu brought her back to the trainer's area, looking for Jon.

"What the hell happened?" Jon said seeing the short woman being escorted around by the Englishman. "Phil couldn't find her."

"She came looking for me. Now I'm going to go beat the bloody shit out Drew. He did this, he hurt Pet."

"Do you know what he said?" Jon stood in front of Petula as she focused her gaze on the ground.

"Nothing good I'm afraid. Fat, Ugly, accused her of playing with me. He's talking about my ex unfortunately with that one."

"I've got her tonight. Do what you have to do, I'll make sure you get her tomorrow, all right?"

"Don't let her out of your sight." Stu told Jon, looking at him.

"I won't. I'm not planning on doing anything tonight. I'll call you if something happens though. You still have a match for later, Man. Better not worry yourself, don't want to fuck up a match like that."

"Yeah, I know." Giving Jon a nod, Stu turned and left.

Making Petula look up at him, Jon smiled at her. "It's going to be okay, Tula. I'm off for the rest of the night, I'll take care of you."

"Please don't be mad with me." She said, feverishly wiping her tears away with a finger.

"Why?"

"I don't want to work here anymore."

That hit Jon like a boot to the head. She wanted to quit, she wanted to leave.

Petula wanted to leave him.

* * *

**I'm not really sure if I should continue with this story. I like it, I like testing myself with this. I'm just not sure if it's because I've got my other main story I'm still working on or what. This story seems flat to me. What do you all think?**


	11. Chapter 11

Joe wasn't sure what it was about Petula that Jon liked, but he was possessive of her. When they left the arena after Raw, he'd made sure that Petula checked in with her friend and fellow worker Fiona before he brought her back to the hotel with him. Joe didn't know what Jon was up to with this obviously strange woman who didn't talk much and from the looks of things, the Samoan scared her.

As Joe walked Jon and Petula back to Jon's hotel room, he wondered something. "Can I ask you something, Petula?" He asked as Jon unlocked his hotel room door.

"Yes?" She glanced at him.

"I don't want to come across as rude, but what's wrong with you? I know you're different, I can see it with the way you behave around me. I just want to understand. Whatever you say to me, I promise I won't treat you any differently."

"I'm autistic, I have a form called Asperger's Syndrome. And you scared me at first, when I first met you."

"That explains a lot." Joe looked at Jon who stared at him with a threatening glare. "Just saying, Man. She's different but not in a bad way. But may I suggest something for you two?"

"What?" Jon asked opening the door to his hotel room.

"Clue Stu in on all of this. I think it would be better for all of you."

"Okay." Petula said walking into the room dropping her backpack into a chair that was in the room.

Jon growled as he closed the door behind him. Petula thought he was mad at her. She was the one that caused the trouble back at the arena. She stood rocking, a reaction she got when she was stressed out. He hands opening and closing into fists. Jon looked at her, watching the woman stare at nothing but crying nothing.

"Tula..." He whispered coming up behind her.

"i'm nothing...I'm nothing..." she whispered, pulling at her hair almost painfully hard.

"No...no, you're something. You're something to me." He said, knowing that to touch her was probably not the best thing to do.

She turned around and pressed her face into his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his middle. Well since she was able to take that part on herelf, Jon ran his hands over her back, his chin resting on top of her head and his eyes closed. Neither could say anything, it was like they needed this, knowing that the other was there to support them. Petula needed to know that he wasn't there to make things bad for her, he wanted to make sure she wasn't scared of him.

When she started crying, Petula's hold on him tightened. Her fingers scratched at his back as she gripped his shirt tightly. Everyting seemed so confusing, like she couldn't stand on her own two feet anymore.

"Tula..." Jon whispers. "I don't want you to go. I don't want you to leave."

"Why? I'm not anyone special."

"Correction, I don't want you to go because you're special to me. Look, Babe..." she stepped back from him. "Before I met you, women were all the same to me. Desposable. And since knowing you, I've grown to consider you a friend, a real friend. Something that I haven't really had in a while."

This was alarming to Petula. "You used women for only sex, to..." she couldn't find the right words to even finish that sentence. "Gradify your own personal needs and then...what?"

"I didn't mean I kill them afterwards, Babe. I mean...they only mean sex to me and that was all. I don't like personal attachment with women because of something that happened back in my childhood. I didn't like women, only for what I needed, otherwise I prefer to be alone."

Would it be too much of a personal question if Petula wanted to ask it? She didn't, he saw her thinking but he knew she was not going to ask.

"Then you came along, just so...so..."

"Stupid..."

"Stop, Tula. Stop, all right." He cupped her face in his hands, noticing her flinching away. "You're not stupid, you're not fat, ugly or any of that shit you think you are. You're Petula Clarke, an interesting woman. You're you and you can't help but to be you. And that's what I like about you."

"I like that you accept me." She said. "You maybe understand me, that you know some of my issues are different. I smoke when I'm stressed or worried, or anxious."

"I could kiss you right now." His comment threw her for a loop. "But I can't. I like you, Tula, I like you a lot but I don't want to scare you away. I don't want to give you the wrong impression of me and fuck everything up. But I don't want to loose you. I lost someone really special to me and that's how I started using women, because of something that happened in my life. Do you understand?"

"I think so. You don't want me to go because you don't want to loose our friendship."

"Yes. You're so good to me." He tugged at her hair lightly as he looked down at her. "But if you leave you let them win. Drew, AJ...you let them win."

Petula opened her mouth, but as she did so there was a knock on the door. It wasn't light, not like a woman's would be. But it wasn't a police pounding, not like what her dad had. She watched Jon as he went over to the door, and opened it. Standing there were two Europeans, two men that she could sort of trust. Jon let Stu and Stephen in, and now it was strange. The room seemed to have gotten smaller, her breathing coming out in rapid puffs.

"Babe, come on. It's okay." Jon said, seeing her fist twisting around in a circle. "Tula...hey, stop." He grabbed her twirling wrist lightly making her focus on him. "There's nothing to be worried about. You know Stu...you know his voice. Just focus on that."

"I don't think I follow." The Englishman spoke up as Petula pushed her fingers through her short hair.

"I trust you because your voice, your accent, reminds me of my Dad." She didn't look at him, and it was hard for her to stay even moderately still. "When I got stressed, overstimulated or anything, all he had to do was speak and his voice would calm me down. When I hear your voice I don't get antsy, I don't get scared."

"Huh, I've never been told my scary voice could sooth someone." He said, looking at Jon briefly.

"But I have issues with being around people, if you haven't noticed." Petula told him, moving to sit on one of the beds. "It's because I have something that makes me embarrassed about myself. Something I've lived with for all my life. And a lot of times I've told others about it they think of me differently, they treat me differently or they just abandon me. My mom was one."

Stephen glanced at Jon, who stood nearby but hadn't tried to intervene on Petula's behalf. She was going to say something that either Stu was going to hate, fear or get angry about. He was pretty much sure of what she was going say to the Englishman. The more she described herself to Stu he instantly caught on to what she was going to say. It took a special person to know what someone is behind a mask and she had to wear a mask, to be someone different just to get through work and life.

"I'm not. I promise, Pet." He knelt in front of her, trying to catch her gaze. She looked at him, pushing her glasses up her face. "I'm not going to do any of that to you."

She ducked her head again, thinking. If Jon could understand how much different would Stu be?

"I have what's called Asperger's Syndrome, it a social dysfunction on the autism spectrum. Essentially I am autistic. I may be a genius when it comes to electronics or robotics but I'm socially inept otherwise." She looked at him. "I didn't want to tell you because I thought you would treat me differently."

But she couldn't read his face, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. To her he might as well be speaking Spanish, she had no clue what was going on through his head. But she did know what happened next, Stu stood up and just left the hotel room. No word, no sound...he just left. He left her, like a lot of other people did. Like her mom, like that girl back in high school, he left and it was her fault.

"Fuck." Jon groaned for her. "And he promised."

"It's not really something you'd expect from someone you thought was perfect. And he did, he thought she was perfect. A little shy, sure but...nothing too overly obvious." Stephen said after thinking it over.

"I know how to sort of reframe from acting strange in front. And I meant it, his voice is really soothing to me." Without much control her hand went up to her hair, pullng it almost painfully. "And it's my fault."

"Shit. Stop that." Jon grown, forcing her to let go of her hair. "You are Petula, you're you. It's not your fault he left. He left because he is a coward. If that were the case, he wasn't really your friend to begin with." He made her look at him. "Look at me, Tula. You did nothing, this isn't your fault. You think it's your fault but it isn't. If he can't accept you for you then he's not worth the effort."

"Maybe he's scared." Stephen spoke up, oddly calm as he leaned against the hotel dresser. "Think of it from his angle. The woman he is falling in love with has an issue, one that he doesn't understand. Maybe he just needs to go out and clear his head with it. Phil figured it out, Jon did, it took me a while but I figured it out. Sooner or later he was going to find out, but it's better he found out from you before someone else."

"So don't worry about it." Petula looked back at Jon before looking at his hands. "If he really is your friend then he'll come around."

* * *

Drew was out at a bar when Stu came in. Now was his chance. Show him what kind of woman that Petula really was.

"Hey, mate. What's got you down?" Drew asked.

"My Pet, she told me something in confidence and I'm just going to mull it over before I talk to her tomorrow."

"Was it about me?"

"You were a big part of it, yes." Stu said as the bartender gave him his beer.

The Scotsman took the empty seat next to his English friend. "Well, what she tell you?"

"You confused her. Scared the shit out of her for sure. Can't say I'm actually happy with you trying to bully her."

"Then why aren't you bothered by it?"

"She told me something about herself and I'm confused."

"Yeah, would it be about that's made you confused?"

Stu didn't answer him for a while. He managed to down two beers in less than five minutes, which was a record for the Englishman at the moment. He mulled over what some of the things that Petula did that made him think about her in a new light now. She didn't like being around people at the fair, she didn't really like looking people in the face when she was talking to them. Then there was those tics that she presented back at Jon's hotel room.

"Nothing...nothing in general. I'm just trying to sort things out. She lied to me, you know." There, his inhibitions were slipping. "She didn't tell me the truth." Down went a third bottle.

"Kind of like how you were played the last time, mate. That doesn't make your Pet much different."

Did it? She had every right to keep it from him, and he'd done what she was afraid he would do. Stu had left when he promised he wouldn't.

"She's just playing you, Mate. Dragging you, Ambrose, Ste and others around by your bloody bootstraps." Drew continued.

With an ache in his head, an ache in his heart, Stu got up from the bar throwing down some money for his tab and then walked out of there. Maybe a good night sleep would be better than nothing.

* * *

**Well, there you go. I've been playing around with this story somewhat over the last day and after some failed attempts I managed to get this one. How do you like it? **


	12. Chapter 12

"Will you stop that?" Jon grabbed her wrist to keep Petula from pulling at her hair.

Stephen looked the woman over as she sat on the bed. Ever since Stu had left she was stressed out. The brunette was having a hard time processing the issue and some of the things that she was doing didn't look right. She pulled her already short hair, and every once in a while Petula would reach up and just pulled as hard as she could.

"What calms you down, what makes you calm and happy?" Jon asked, holding her hands in his, looking down at her.

"My robotics, my electronics, they calm me." She said looking up at him. "You calm me down."

"Best if I get out of here." Stephen spoke up. "I'll be by tomorrow morning to see how you are, Lass. Are you going to be setting up the venue tomorrow for the tapings?"

"Yes." She replied, looking at his red hair.

"Then I'll see you there. Take care of her, lad. She needs it."

Petula didn't know what to think about that comment, was it because she was distressed or because she needed to be tended to? She wasn't absolutely sure. Her mind began replaying over the events of the day as Jon closed the door behind the Irishman.

"Do you know what happened between Stu and his last girlfriend?" She asked, catching the man off guard. "I know you and him aren't friends, but it was something that Drew said. He was played. How was he played?"

"The best that I know, his girlfriend cheated on him. That's all I know."

"So by me not telling him about my autism he thought I was cheating on him, lying to him, as a friend?" Did that seem logical?

"Maybe he sees it that way." Jon knelt in front of her, his head lightly resting against her knee. "But you have me, I don't judge you, Petula. You didn't judge me when I told you about my issues with women and how I see them. But they weren't like you. You were just you, you have everything in order. You wanted nothing more out of me than just being a friend."

"Is that why you changed?"

"I changed for you."

"You should change for yourself." Tentatively, Petula placed her hand on top of his head, which was a change for both of them. It felt okay and in a way it felt right. "I like your hair." She finally said, twirling a loose curl slightly.

"I'm cutting it soon." He closed his eyes as his hand came to rest on her thigh.

"Don't cut your bangs, I like when you are glaring at people through your hair. But you have to stand out from your dark haired teammates."

Just these innocent talks from her, just to be able to hear her talk about him in a possitive light. Most of the women just wanted to have sex with him, Petula wanted to get to know him as a person.

"The kid from my old neighborhood loved playing baseball. He just wasn't good with baseball facts, he was a damn good baseball player."

"I had one friend in my life, besides you." She said lightly pulling at Jon's hair as he shifted his body on the floor but still keeping his head on her knee. "He was on the football team. I was a senior and he was a senior. But he had some problems with math so we were partnered together so that I could get social with people and he would get the help with math."

"Yeah, what happened with him?"

"Drunk driving, he was killed. It felt like my one friend was taken from me. The rest of the football team just accepted me, you know as his friend, but they never really understood what I had to go through."

Jon lifted his head and looked up at her. "I understand, Tula. And you have to understand, when I say that I am not the best person to get to know. I am rough, you're not."

And that's right, he was. She'd seen his character and himself were close to the same people. He could be down right scary at some times, but Jon wasn't like that with her. He was trying to get her to stop with her tics, with her issues. He had basically stopped her from worrying so much about Stu, about these thoughts of failure. He calmed her down when usually she would have to take some anxiety pills, anti-depressants that she had to take.

"Come on." Jon stood up, looking down at Petula with a smile. "You can borrow some of my cloths for tonight."

"Why?" She didn't understand, Petula thought that she was going to go back to the staff bus that night.

"You're spending the night." Was it a question or a statement she didn't know. "You'll leave with the rest of the staff tomorrow so you can get to the venue. I have some things to do early in the morning and I don't want people thinking you were a one night fling."

"Um...okay."

Jon gave her a pair of boxers and one of his Shield shirts, both of which were big on her but they didn't fall off like other women. They were held in place by her obvious curves, and it were these things that made Jon more attracted to her as she crawled into the second bed in the room.

"Goodnight, Jon." She said, her shoulder covered by a blanket while pressing a pillow over her head.

"Goodnight, Tula." He responded watching her.

She needed absolute darkness and absolute no sound in order to go to sleep. And in no time at all, Petula had drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Tuesdays, they were supposed to be the days that Petula would hang out with Stu. After spending the night at Jon's hotel room, both of them in different beds, she left with Fiona and some of the other workers. They would be on the bus for about two hours until they got to where the tapings would be held.

As the bus ambled on, Petula was on her bunk, looking at her iPhone. She wasn't doing anything, just looking at it. She was anticipating a call from Stu but if he wasn't going to call she wasn't sure if she should call him.

"Are you okay?" Fiona asked, sitting down on the bunk, having to duck her head.

"I told Stu last night about my issues." She said, glancing at her friend. "He walked away and I haven't heard from him. I told Joe and Stephen, they didn't leave me. Jon already knew, so did Phil...but Stu was the only one that left."

"Are you going to sit next to your phone all day or are you going call him or are you going to do something else? That RC of yours isn't going to build itself." Fiona said, leaning against the bunk. "I've got my husband to worry about. I think he inhaled too much hairspray from last night's show. So many women wanting stiff hair."

"Yeah, I don't like all that stuff in my hair." Petula instinctively ran a hand through her short hair.

Maybe Fiona was right, and Jon told her that she should do something to get her mind off of Stu for the day. If Stu wasn't going to be her friend she needed to get over him. From below her bottom bunk, because she hated heights and didn't like top bunks, Petula pulled out a metalic box from underneath the bunk. At least she found a hobby shop that sold various pieces that she needed, the circuitry was iffy at the moment but if she did enough soddering it would be enough.

The other workers didn't bother her when she walked into the community living area. Some knew that she threw herself into this project, none of them tried to interfere and others suspected how different she was. They didn't bother her, they didn't try to get to know her either, sometimes it hurt to know that her being different caused others to not want to get to know her.

* * *

In the process that she usually did thing, Petula enjoyed it when she set up the announcer's table, and that area. She was close to the ring where she could watch some of the superstars practice and she tried to do it around the time when The Shield would practice in the ring. But this day was different, it seemed like people were out to get her more than ever.

Drew sauntered up, smiling at the 'pudgy' worker as she was half under the announcer's table. He wouldn't risk doing it around the people that knew her the best. And now he had another act on his mind.

"You think you can do it?" Brad Maddox asked looking at the hundred in his hand. "She probably hates you right now."

"What can I say, mate. Women love me." Drew smiled before walking over towards the chubby worker.

Petula didn't look up when someone had stopped in front of the table she was halfway kneeling under. She didn't look up, she didn't care who it was at the moment. She needed to do her work and that was it.

"Have you seen Stu?" Drew asked, now making her look at him.

She did and when she looked up, she didn't say anything. Wasn't he already warned off by Joe the other day?

"No, I haven't." She finally said,

"Can you tell him I'm looking for him?" He asked.

"I can, doesn't mean I will. There is a different in how you ask those questions. I can do it, but it's the will behind it that needs to be in place."

"Okay, I'll just ask differently. Will you tell Stu that I'm looking for him?" The Scotsman asked.

"Okay, I will tell him. I have work to do."

"I'm sorry. You have to understand, Stu's my mate and I'm just looking out for him."

She didn't believe him, but she kept quiet so that he could continue.

"Actually, I'm sort of jealous of Stu and you."

Now this added to the confusion. "Why?"

"Because he has someone like you, I don't. God, it didn't hurt just him, it hurt me and Ste when his ex just walked away from two years of a relationship. And she still works here. He has to see her every day and I don't want him to be played again."

"I...um, I don't know what to say. But when you say some things, you make it sound like I am stupid."

"Yeah, I was a git wasn't I? Look, I'd like to get to know you better." He held his hand out to her.

But she didn't touch him. "You have to prove to me that I can trust you."

"And I will. Tonight."

"Not tonight." Stephen said, walking up. "I'd suggest leavin' her alone, until she and Stu has a chance to talk."

"But..."

"No, Drew. You've caused enough trouble already. Get out of here." The older man said, nodding his head.

Without another word, probably from fear that he would probably get punched, Drew left. But that didn't stop him from eyeing up Petula and giving her a coy smile. She didn't know what a coy smile was, she read about it but never seen one. Was that one, she thought as she looked towards Stephen.

"Thank you."

"Look, Lass, I know you're having a hard time. Drew had no right to do what he did yesterday. But I would suggest trying to get back in good graces with Stu first. Drew is a good man, not great, but we've been through so much in our time I know what to expect. He's...limited in vision, meaning he can't see beyond what he wants to see."

"Wants and cans are different. He only sees women in terms of beauty, in terms of their appearance. I don't think I have any of that, at all."

"Don't be talking about yourself like that, Lass. You're good enough for Stu, you're good enough for Jon. Best to just focus on the ones you have now. You got me, you got Phil and Jon. We are your friends, we don't care what you are or what you look like."

"Thank you." She understood that as a good comment and liked how he said it.

Stephen just wanted her to know what he thought about her. She was a nice woman, a little naive about things but that wasn't so bad. It brought a new perspective to people these days. That humans come in different sizes and mentalities.

Petula had just finished the announcer's table and was going to head off over to the sound department to see if they needed help over there. Fiona was a sound technician and often prone to hooking up everything wrong. That's where Petula came in handy, she was able to attach wires where they needed to go and everything would be okay. But Petula wasn't expecting to get stopped on the way to do that part of her job.

"Pet, wait up, please." She heard Stu say.

"Stu...I'm...I mean I..."

"Look, I'm in a hurry, Love." He interrupted her obvious stuttering. "I want to meet you outside after the show, I want to take you out to dinner and explain things. Okay? Meet me outside after the show. Just do that, by the back entrance."

"Okay." She nodded, fighting the urge to touch his arm.

He smiled at her before rushing off. The start of the filming sessions would be starting soon and that meant she had to stick around for much of the day. But she didn't mind, what she did was what he had to say to her.

What did Stu want to explain?

* * *

**With My Pretty Beautiful out of the way I can focus on this one better now. I hope I can let others enjoy this one as I did with MPB. I hope you enjoyed this update.**


	13. Chapter 13

What did Stu want to explain?

Petula was flicking her lighter, the schniking sound reverberated off the wall of the building. It felt like she was in one of those 1920's themed cartoons, Tom and Jerry. All she needed was a bolder hat and a cigarette hanging from her lips. Not that would make her look even more convincing.

"Tom and Jerry, that's cute." She mumbled flicking her Zippo lighter again.

People didn't even acknowledge her. She was was nothing to them. Not even the big man of the WWE himself, John Cena, seemed to notice the short, fat...

"Okay, you can stop with the self-detrament bashing." Petula ran a hand over her face.

"You know it's not good to talk to yourself. You just might not know who answers back." Stu said walking towards her. "I asked Ste to take my stuff back to the hotel for me, we're sharing a room."

"I have to leave with the rest of the workers at eight tomorrow morning. So I can't stay out late tonight." She said pushing away from the wall.

Off in the distance Jon had watched Petula walk off with Stu. She wasn't touching him, she actually seemed like she didn't want him touching her. Joe watched Jon watch Petula. Colby was oblivious, talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone.

"Come on, Jon." Joe said making his team member look at him. "She'll be okay. She knows she can call you if something happens."

"Yeah I know, but I'm just worried." He said.

His Pet, she was not talking to him. Stu called a cab to get them to the restaurant he had found. It wasn't something fancy, he knew she didn't care for those. It was like a family restaurant that wasn't really busy.

"I did a few searches about your Asperger's." The way Stu said it, it sounded like it was painful for him to say it. "I won't lie, it was a shock that you told me all of this."

She didn't look at him. "It's not a topic I'm comfortable with." She looked at her hands. "People instantly think it means I'm retarded."

"You're not, I can see it. You get confused about some things, yes but who doesn't these day?" She looked at Stu. "But I felt like you didn't trust me, Pet. I felt like you weren't telling me everything and when you told me it reminded me of my ex."

"What happened? With your ex, I mean what happened with your ex?"

"She cheated on me, plain at simple. Remember when I was injured?"

"I think so, you came back later in 2012 after your filming with Dead Man Down. But I don't like to know people's personal information. I was under the impression that if we workers mingled with the talent it would end in disaster. I'm kind of under the impression that they're right."

Stu reached across the table and put his hand on Petula's. "No. No, Pet. You are the best thing that happened to me. I was falling for you since came around. When I heard that you wanted to quit, quit working for the company, to go and do something you wanted...I knew I made a mistake just walking away. Pleae forgive me for that. It was the coward's response. You have no idea how much you mean to me."

"Stu...just tell me what you want me to know. I can tell you have a passion for me but I don't know if you want me as your friend or as something else."

"Your honesty, you coming to me when you were having issues, it made me want to ask you to go out on a date with me even more." His long fingers wrapped around hers slightly. "Petula, I'd like for you to go out with me, on a date next week."

She was scared to answer. She'd never been asked out, she'd never been told these things. Except for by Jon.

"Both you and Jon want the same thing from me." She looked at him. "And I don't know what to do about it. I don't know if it will change our friendship any. Jon doesn't want to scare me away, because he says he's not a nice man. But to me he is."

"I will admit I didn't like the idea of you being around him all too much. But...he has proved that he isn't the animal I thought him to be." Stu admitted. "But he seems sincere now, as sincere as I am about wanting to be with you."

"It doesn't work that way with me, Stu. I've never dated in my life, I only had one other male friend besides you and Jon, and now with Stephen and Phil maybe. I don't know the proper ediquette on how to do this. In my life I'm always left alone, before you guys came into my life it was only Dad and me against the world that kept telling us that I would not succeed in anything, to have a normal life. You have to understand...we've only known each other for a few weeks. I can't go from what little friendship we had to you wanting to go out with me in under a night."

"You're right, Pet. I'm sorry. It's just...bloody hell I just adore you so much."

"Honestly, that scares me, too. It's like I had a stalker when I didn't know it and it sort of scares me. And then you walked away last night, when I needed you the most, when I needed you as a friend, you walked away over something someone else did to you like a year ago."

"Pet, you're starting to cry. Please calm down. Please?"

And she did. It was his voice, his soothing words, his hand still holding hers that calmed her down. She didn't do any of her tics, which were still joined on the table. He smiled at her, and she smiled at him.

"Can you tell me about...um...Wales. You told me you lived there when you were younger. I would like to hear about it, about your life there."

"There isn't much to tell. Martin, my older brother, introduced me to fighting because he was always fighting me."

"Can you teach me how to box? Maybe that is something we could do together. Bonding." Petula suggested.

"Sure, Pet. I would love to do that with you. Have you talked to Jon about other physical training?"

"Not really, with everything going on...I haven't really spoken to either him or Colby, who seems to be a bit more physically fit than him."

They ate their meal, talking about things that interested them. She asked for tips to better watch her weight while on the road, he picked her brain for robotics. Even if she went on tangents, he'd wait her out and get back into the conversation with her. She would even do complex Calculus and almost quantum physics equations to explain stuff.

"I studied fish, Pet. I don't think I understand this." He said, motioning to her napkin and placemat math.

"Sorry, I...this is the stuff that I like. It's what I enjoy. Robotics, all of this, takes up my issues with having to deal with people." She said, picking up a fry from her plate.

"There's no need to be sorry. It would be like me answering to why I wanted to be a wrestler." He smiled. "But it's getting late and I don't want you missing your drive out tomorrow. I've kept you long enough."

"It's always good to be around you, Stu. I feel happy. It makes missing my Dad much easier when I'm around you. At first it was just your voice that calmed me down, but as we got to know each other, I valued you as a friend because you took the time to get to know me. Not a lot of people will do that."

It warmed Stu when he heard her say those things to him. He knew from the research that he did that people was Asperger's Syndrome had a hard time expressing themselves emotionally. This was a step for her, he knew that, and it was towards him that made it even better.

They left the restaurant and Stu called a cab to come pick them up so that they could get taken to the Motel 6 that Petula was staying at. It wasn't a long drive and they sat in silence. Their hands were resting in the seat next to each other, Petula looked like she was off in her own world, a quirk of a smile on her face as she kind of looked out the window. Reaching over, Stu lightly placed his hand on hers, which made Petula look down at their hands. She didn't know how to react, not that she'd ever really been in this situation. She didn't know what this meant, she didn't know if this was his way of showing her how much he cared or...

"You're over thinking it, Pet. I can see it in your eyes and face." He said, making her look up at him. "It's a sign of affection, I'm being nice towards you. You're my friend, I just want you to know that."

"Okay."

But he was acting his impulses. Stu wanted her to feel the same for him and he knew that he would have to take things in strides with her. She didn't take to change very well, he knew that especially with her dad passing so drastically. Just confusing her more would make things worse. He's already hurt her once, unintentionally making her feel like her Asperger's made him walk away from her.

"I'm sorry, Pet."

"For what, Stu?" She glanced at him as the ascended the stairs towards her motel room. He still held her hand, though there was the obvious height difference between the two.

"For making you think that it was your fault that I walked away yesterday. I was just overwhelmed. It's not something you drop on someone, you know."

"That's why I didn't tell you at first. Jon was able to figure it out because he knew of a kid with autism like me back in his childhood. Phil figured it out because he's worked in this business for so long he's probably met his fair share of them. Don't know how Stephen figured it out but he did. You were the only one that saw me, all my faults and issues, and still wanted to be my friend even though you didn't know." She stood in front of her door, digging for the keycard in her wallet.

"Because I was so taken with you. I'm surprised you weren't with a man before you met either Jon or me."

"None had ever wanted anything to do with me. My coworkers, they somewhat understand but Fiona was the only one that went out of her way to befriend me. The others, if I am in a mood and I want to work on RC robot alone then they will without any issue on their part. It's something they've gotten used to since I started here. But none of them were interesting in facilitating a friendship with me. Not like either you or Jon."

As Petula opened the door, she turned to tell Stu goodnight. But that's not what she got. When she turned around she felt his hand on the side of her cheek and then he was turning her so that she was looking up at him. When she did, he turned his head and leaned down, his mouth covering hers. Before she even registered what happened, Stu pulled back, her mouth feeling like someone had stuck electrodes under her skin and were sending currents of electricity through them. It was a warm tingling sensation. One that she'd never experienced before.

"I'm only going to give what I think you can handle. Just remember, I'm here for you, Pet." He rubbed her cheek with his thumb before turning and heading back down the outside stairs towards the awaiting car. Nothing, he didn't explain himself, he just let her mull it over for herself. Something that Petula was not really good at.

But the one thing she was good at was replaying stuff she had seen or read, or experienced over and over in her head.

She went to sleep replaying Stu's kiss over and over, even in her dreams.

Petula just realized that Stu gave her that first kiss. A simple kiss.

A simply confusing kiss.

* * *

**I love people's comments on this. What do you think of it so far? I'm not exactly sure where to take it from here. Got any suggestions.**


	14. Chapter 14

Petula didn't know what to think of that kiss. It plagued her since she went back to work. Would it cause problems with Jon?

It was Friday at a house show that Jon was performing at. Petula had to set up for that house show, but afterwards she would have to travel to the Raw stage.

"Mr. Sylvan..." she approached her supervisor.

Mr. Sylvan was an older man with greying hair and a slight receeding hairline. He was her supervisor, yes, but ever since her father died he sort of began to look out for her more than any of the other staff he oversaw. He had clear blue eyes behind wire rimmed glasses.

"What can I do for you, Petula?" Mr. Sylvan asked.

"I was wondering, instead of leaving with the rest of the staff, and if Jon's okay with it, I'd travel with him to Raw on Monday."

"You're breaking your routine, Petula. Not that it's a bad thing, but...why?"

"I just want to be with a friend right now. I know I have Fiona but I want to be with Jon right now."

"You ask him first and then we'll decide."

"Okay."

Jon was leaving the men's locker room when he saw Petula approaching. She looked like she was engrossed with her own thoughts, a thing he knew she was good at. And she couldn't have been more attractive than with that look on her face.

"Hey there, Tula." Colby said, appearing almost by magic out from behind Joe's back. She looked up, realizing that she was right there in front of them.

"Um hi. I wanted to ask you something, Jon."

"Yeah, what's that?"

"I asked Mr. Sylvan if I could travel with you guys until Raw. He said I'd have to ask you first but if not..."

"I'm all for it." Joe spoke up.

"Yeah, that's cool with me." Jon looked at Colby. "What, you need a love life."

"Love him like a friend, that's all." She said, tilting her head so she could look at Colby's hair. "You need to dye your hair again. It's starting to fade ever so slightly." And she was blunt in saying that.

Jon smiled, amused by the odd look on Colby's face. "Yeah, Man. You need to re-dye your hair. There can only be room on this team with one blonde and one brunette."

"Funny. But I'll do that later. Right now, we have a match to do. See you around, Angel." He said, patting her shoulder slightly as he usually did when she was around and she didn't mind he did that. Now. At first she asked Jon why he would do that, to touch her. Jon had to explain to her that sometimes people showed affection that way. That was Colby's way of being friendly towards her.

As she waited for the three men to do their thing in the show, Petula stood outside flicking her lighter. She was lost in her mind, thinking about everything that had gone on. The kiss, how confused she'd been since then, how it felt. She didn't have anyone she could talk to about romance, someone who could tell her what was acceptable and what wasn't. She'd gone to her dad for so long it was becoming difficult to know how to process this kind of stuff.

"Hey, you're thinking heavily again." Phil said, walking up. "What are you still doing here? The staff bus left not too long ago."

"I'm traveling with Jon. I just...wanted to hang out with him. I moved my things to Jon's rental." She looked at him before looking away. "I'm waiting for them and while I wait I'm going to think about some things that have come up."

"What sort of things?"

"I'm confused and I don't know how to understand them. It's like a break in the circuitry and it's not sending the messages to the mainframe."

"Okay, so you don't understand something. What is it that you don't understand?"

"Stu kissed me when he took me to my hotel room, he held my hand and he kissed me. Not like those stupid romance movies you see on television. It was soft, electrifying and short. He said it was nothing but I'm not sure if it was for him. He made it very obvious he wanted something out of our friendship." She bit her lip as she looked down at her sneakers.

"And what would that be?"

"He wanted to take me on a date, but I basically told him that I was only comfortable with being his friend. I'm worried that if I start dating Stu then Jon wouldn't want to be my friend."

That was a first time in his life he could be scared for someone. Sure she had social issues, and with her Asperger's it was harder even for her. But Stu was desperate it seemed. Ever since his breakup with Alicia, and now him pursuing Petula like his life depended on it. And that's what scared him.

She watched Phil groaned and run his fingers over his head and then over his face. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing...I just...I don't know. From what you told me, it kind of sounds like Stu is pretty desperate."

"And I can't help thinking that maybe Jon is, too. Not the desperate thing but he's commented that he wants to be with me but he doesn't because he needs to fix some things about himself."

"It's a manly thing to do, to admit that he doesn't want to scare you away. He's telling you the truth. But how do you feel for them each in return?"

"I don't know how I feel about them but I feel like I'm being torn in two. Like I want to give one the relationship but then I have that feeling I'll only hurt the other. Like if I choose Stu, Jon wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. Childish, isn't it?"

"No, it's smart. You're thinking about how life is interconnected. Cause and effect. If you choose to go out with Stu then how will it affect Jon? Choose Jon, how would it affect Stu? I can't tell you who to choose, Sugar. You have to do it. But you are doing the smart thing, waiting for the answer yourself."

"By not choosing to date one of them then I am getting a better picture of them the more I get to know them."

"Precisely."

"Thank you, Phil. I think I can come to you if I have anymore problems. You're a nice man." She smiled at him.

"Well thanks. Usually I'm called a Punk but that's a different matter. You ride's coming. Might want to offer him a light before you get shoved into a car for a long ass ride." Phil nodded towards where Jon, Joe and Colby were coming out of trhe building with their bags and things.

"I'll talk to you later, Phil"

"Sure thing, Sugar. You have my number if you need to call me, right?"

"Yep. Talk to you later, Phil." She smiled before running off over towards the three Shield members.

It was still pretty earlier in the night when they arrived at the restaurant outside of the city to have something to eat before they drove through the night to where the next Raw was going to be.

"Colby, can I ask you a question without too many questions on your behalf?"

"Well, I guess. Not that I'm sure what you would want to ask me, but okay. What is it?"

"How do I go about having proper nutrition on the road?" She asked.

He looked her over slightly, leaning on the table with his elbows. "It's all about what you watch really. Yes we go to a lot of restaurants and drive-ins but we are careful for what we eat. Why do you ask?"

"I want to loose weight, but I don't really know how."

"You're fine." He waved her off. "You're healthy."

"I'm fat." She responded and she believed it.

Joe spoke up. "Look at my cousins, The Usos, they are big guys..."

"Women aren't supposed to look like me." She crossed arms and sighed, closing her eyes. "I don't feel special. I feel stupid."

"I'm going to take you out to the parking lot and tan your ass if you don't stop berating yourself like that, Tula." Jon spoke up. "Look at me, damn it." When she did, he leaned against the table since he was sitting on the other side with Colby. "You are a beautiful woman, Tula. You're smart, smarter than I will ever be. If anyone ever tells you otherwise they are fucking assholes. Tula, you're an amazing woman. You have no idea how much you touch my heart."

First Stu and now Jon. She was right, she was having a crisis of the heart. She didn't know what to do or how to go about doing it.

"You're my friend, Tula. You'll always be my friend first and if it goes further than that, then it will. I was like a robot before you came along. I went where I was supposed to go, do what I was supposed to do. I didn't want to wrestle for a while because it was just something that I had to do. But then you came and I found a reason to love what I do again."

But it was still hard for her. Petula didn't know what to do about any of this.

Should she tell Jon that Stu kissed her? Or should she try an experiment? Should Petula kiss Jon just to see if it felt like Stu's kiss? Or would that really make her a player? It was all still confusing to her.

One thing's for sure, she didn't know what to do.

* * *

**Yeah I know, a bit short. I just had this idea in my head and couldn't wait to get it out. What do you think about it? Should I continue with this one? I enjoy to hear what you have to say.**


	15. Chapter 15

Texas in the summer is an unforgivable place, actually pretty much everything in the Southwest was unforgivable in the summer. Jon was from Ohio, he only knew of Winter, Winter, Snow and Rain. Okay so that was over exagerating things but it was mostly right. Jon had never really cared for this part of the United States, it was just too damn hot for him.

"You should go to Lake Nelson." Kaitlyn said as she was in the gym with him. "It's a nice place to go if you want some alone time."

Jon glance over to where he saw Petula on a tredmill. She was content, listening to some music on her MP3 player. He smiled to himself as he set the dumbells down on the rack. Kaitlyn didn't miss a beat with that look, she glanced over at where he was looking and sighed, putting down her own weights. She was within view on him and Stu, along with Stephen and Phil for that matter. She asked if she could join them at the gym and they agreed it would give her something to do for the day. And with a lot of the other superstars in the WWE there as well, they kept a close eye on the woman.

"You know what everyone is talking about right now?"

"Not that I care. What?" He looked back at the woman.

"She's playing you guys, you and Stu. I don't take stock in what AJ says but...some of the things she says is disturbing from the brunette."

Jon was concerned. "Like what?"

"Is Petula autistic?"

"Is that anyone's business?"

"I don't know all the technical stuff but isn't it hard to get close to her? People like her don't like being touched, they don't socialize well with others."

Jon growled, glaring at the younger woman. "Petula isn't like that. She may be autistic but she isn't incapable of loving or caring for someone. I want nothing more than her happiness but she isn't the kind of person people probably thinks of her. She just wants to be able to live. She lost her dad for crying out loud."

"Okay, okay, Jon. Just calm down. I didn't know." She held her hands up in defense. "But don't you find it hard to get close to her?"

"No, no I don't." He replied. "I care for her a lot. She knows how I feel about her but I am not going to risk scaring her away. I have to prove to her that I can change."

"Ever heard of the saying 'seasons change but people don't'?"

"Yeah well, I want to prove to her that I can."

She was off in her little world, focusing on her breathing and how the beat of the song that Colby put into her MP3 player was actually working on keeping the pace of her walking. And it wasn't that bad of a song, she actually liked it. Petula was not really one for mainstream music, more of a classical person since it was what her Dad used to listen to all the time, besides his Petula Clark albums.

Petula remembered coming home from a particularly bad day of school and he was home, it was his day off from being a police officer and she was soaking wet. Some kid from school thought it would be funny to pour water onto her, getting her books wet. Petula practically ran into the house and ran to her room, tearing things off the wall and just throwing a fit.

She hadn't understood, she didn't know why people treated her badly. She didn't know how to expell the anger, she just destroyed things. Her Dad had come in, found her destroying a solar system mobile she had worked on, and then he wrapped his large arms around her. He held her until she calmed down, which was no easy task. Once she had calmed down he had Petula explain to him why she did that.

"People hate me." She cried, wiping away the tears. "I don't understand why. I've done nothing to them. Why do they have to treat me like crap?"

Her father sighed. "Because they don't understand you, Pet. They don't understand that you can be sweet, charming, yes you are smarter than all of them, but that's all they see. They see your gifts, they don't see you. Some would feel threatened by having a sixteen year old as a senior."

"Oh." She said, looking at the carnage of her room. "I'm going to clean this up, I promise."

"I'll help. At least you didn't touch the record player."

They cleaned up the room listening to the songs of Petula Clark, singing Downtown along with the singer, laughing at how badly they sang. All acts of school was pushed from her head, just enjoying being with her father was enough to Petula. Good memories.

Someone threw a towel over Petula's head, making her freak out at as he sight was suddenly taken away from her. She fell down on the treadmill and then promptly get dropped on the floor by said treadmill, she was a little scraped but nothing to bad that required any bandages. If anything, she was more embarrassed about the entire thing. Petula managed to get the towel off her head, but she knew that someone had done this on purpose and that someone was AJ Lee, leaning on her knees laughing. Along with everyone around her. Everyone except Jon, Kaitlyn and the nearby Irishman and Englishman.

"Are you bloody kidding me?" Stu's voice boomed as Jon shoved by AJ to get to Petula.

Colby and Joe hung back, they knew that Petula was not hurt, that she was in good hands, but they just didn't want to interfere in the situation, making it worse than needed.

"She shouldn't be here, she needs to be at an all you can eat buffet." AJ pointed at the short haired brunette that was looking at her in shock, her glasses tilted on her face.

Petula didn't know how to stand up for herself, she just didn't know if she could. As she allowed Jon to help her up one of the gym staff spoke up, looking directly at Petula. "I'm sorry but you're going to have to leave." The man said.

"Why, she did nothing." Jon said.

"She's causing a situation. She's making it difficult for other customers to concentrate." The man said looking her over.

She was the cause of everything. Picking up her fallen MP3 player, Petula walked away. Quiet, that's what she was. Quiet. She couldn't stand up for herself, she couldn't tell people that it wasn't really her fault that she caused a scene in the gym. The heat of Texas hit her skin, shining brightly in her face. She's always had an issue with the sun, since she couldn't wear sunglasses because of her own glasses, she mainly wore hats to shield her eyes. She just stood there, doing nothing, head bowed in shame as the door to the gym opened behind her.

"Pet..."

"Tula..."

She couldn't help it, she had two men calling her name. Stu said Pet and Jon said Tula. It was amusing to her. Through her tears, she was able to laugh slightly.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you guys." She finally said, through taking deep breaths.

"You didn't embarrass us, Babe." Jon said as she wiped her eyes dry. "If anything you proved to the rest of the locker room what's been going on." He lightly brushed the last tear off her face, smiling slightly at her.

"By falling on me face on a treadmill that wasn't even going fast?"

"By not saying anything. She's getting her ass chewed out by Cena right now, and with Triple H training there as well." Stu spoke up, rubbing her back. "Come on, Beautiful. We're going to take you back to Jon's room to calm down. Okay? Joe and Colby will be getting a ride with Joe's cousins. So you don't have to worry about it."

"Okay." She said, nodding.

The drive back to the hotel was quiet. Jon drove while Stu sat in the back of the car with Petula. Her head was resting on his shoulder, his hand holding hers. Even though this was in plain view of Jon, he didn't want to start an already stressful issue with Petula. She would come around when she wanted. The day's events were playing over in her head, replaying back in sequence as they had happened. It was all too much for her to comprehend, knowing that she wasn't the one at fault back in the gym. But one thing was certain for Petula.

"I need a cigarette when we get there." She announced, making Jon smile into the rearview mirror.

* * *

**I know it's short but I couldn't really think of something to write for this chapter except for this. Any suggestions of what I should do next would be a big help. I'll try to update as soon as I can. Thanks for reading.**


	16. Chapter 16

"Kaitlyn suggest a nearby lake to go to." Jon said taking a drag of his cigarette before handing it to his companion.

She and him stood on his balcony at his hotel, basically baking in the sun. Petula didn't mind, she just wanted a few drags of a cigarette to ease her nerves. It was a nasty habit to get involved with, but she liked it. Stu was inside taking a shower, which she was planning on doing herself.

"I guess that sounds good. I'm not really a good swimmer so please don't try to dunk me." She replied taking a drag of the cigarette and handing it back to Jon.

"Trust me, it was a thought I would have loved to do. Actually I was thinking of doing something else. Ever been to a comic book store?" He asked, glancing at Petula.

She shrugged, playing with the fabric of her shirt. "I don't think so. I'm not that kind of weirdo."

Next thing she knows, Petula feels a hand come up side her head. Not a hard smack but one that was indicating she made the wrong answer. The look Jon was giving her, Petula took as being either mad or upset and as she rubbed her head, out of instinct on her part, she frowned. Why would he do that?

"I was one step away from throwing you over my knee and swatting your ass. Don't you ever talk like that about yourself, Tula. If you keep saying those things then you are going to believe it."

"People say those things all the time. It's not like I don't hear them, Jon. One too many times I've been told that I'm not pretty enough, beautiful enough, that I am not good enough to do anything. I'm trying, Jon. I'm trying to think that I am the best person for me to be but sometimes it's too much." She felt the sensation that she was going to cry, that tight feeling in her throat and the burning at her eyes.

He stepped closer to her, cupping either side of her neck as his thumbs stroke her cheeks. Now he looked calm, like he was happy or content and it annoyed her that she didn't know why she couldn't figure it out.

"Tula, you have no idea how much you affected my life. I look at you and I see the person I wish I could just admit to, admit that I am falling for you hard. But I can't, even though it's true. I know we both have our issues, and that we need to work through them. Maybe we can do it together."

Stu stepped out of the bathroom in time to hear it, to hear Jon confess that he cared for Petula but didn't want to pursue it until they were both ready.

"In our own time, not anyone else's. But we need to work on ourselves first. We need to..." he stopped because he couldn't find the right words.

"We need to love ourselves before we can love each other." She finished, remembering the saying that Fiona had told her previously. "We can do that together, right?" She asked, looking at his blue eyes.

"I would like that. Working on ourselves together. What do you want to fix about yourself?"

"If I feel beautiful then I will be beautiful."

"You already are beautiful, Babe. But if that's what you want..." Jon sighed. "I'm going to work on not taking a woman for granted. Honoring a woman, that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to see them as a toy."

She nodded. Even though he didn't tell her why, and she wasn't going to push it, Petula knew that it would be a step in the right direction for him.

Maybe it was for the better, Stu thought. He'd seen the connection they had with each other, the way she could actually look at him. Stu had a hard time getting Petula to even look at him in the eye for more than a second. This...this was for the better. It would be selfish for him to consider her his, when it was plainly obvious that she just wanted to be friends. Hell, she even told him she just wanted friends.

"So, when Stu gets out of the shower, do you want to head out to the comic book store?" Jon asked.

Then Stu spoke up. "Actually, Mate, Ste called. He wanted to get into some sparring practice. Maybe some other time. Though I could see myself spending Tuesday with Pet, teaching her the finer skills of boxing. If you can talk Colby into a healthy eating habit. Once you get the basics down then you can make a schedule for yourself."

"Thank you, Stu. That really means a lot to me." She smiled.

"Means a lot to me, too. Well, thanks for the shower. I'll be going now. Stay safe, you two. I mean it, Jon!" He yelled the sentence halfway across the room before leaving.

Jon smiled and turned to look at Petula. "Well, let's go have some fun."

* * *

Phil wanted to get more comics, some new ones at least. The comic book store that he went to was highly recognized in the Houston community, there was even some Cosplay events that went on there. But apparently he wasn't the only WWE superstar that was there, along with a little brunette technician.

"DC is good, but I think I like Marvel better." He heard Petula say from a row behind him.

Turning around he saw Jon easily, but it was a little harder to see Petula. Not that he was expecting to see her there at all, especially with what happened back at the gym. There she was all right, looking at two different comics.

"Why Marvel?" Jon asked as he was flipping through a Batman comic.

"Because, the cities are real. Like Gotham is just a replacement of New York, I think. Um, some of the mutant powers aren't all that different from what some people can do today. Robots for me, technology I guess. Super genius, with no social skills. Wonder what my superhero name would be."

Jon rolled his eyes, probably not at the statement of no social skills but at her comment on a superhero name. "I don't know but I hope it isn't Kickass."

"No, that would be your name." She glanced at him as she put the DC comic down. "I heard that the Nightcrawler was supposed to be a DC character but he went to Marvel when his creator went to that comic book franchise."

Jon smiled, looking up at her as she thumbed through a stack of X-Men comics. "Really? I thought you said you weren't a comic book person."

"I'm not, I just hear things, read stuff some times. Dad liked to read the classic Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to me. He would be Sherlock and I would be Watson. That's how I learned to read. Like Sherlock Holmes was on a constant high from using cocain. Snuff boxes, take a pinch from it and they sniff it."

"Your dad teach you that stuff?"

"Of course. His uncle was a detective with Scotland Yard back in London. I...wanted to go into forensics, but I found my passion with robotics."

Phil smiled to himself. He enjoyed hearing Petula happy, even though she had a big blue/purble bruise in the center of her forehead from when she fell on the treadmill. And aside from that, she looked like she was having a fun time. Why screw it up.

"I can smell you, Phil." Her tone was flat, like she noticed him. "Your cologne is unique, kind of spicey with cinnamon in it. I've grown accustom to you wearing it. LIke Jon wears a sea breeze aftershave thing that reminds me of the beach from LA."

Both men looked at each other, Jon just shrugged.

"I guess I'm going to have to change my smell and sneak up down wind." Phil said. "Or I won't shower but then I would really give away my position."

She smiled as she looked at him. "I'll take that as a joke, Phil. I didn't know you liked comics."

"I didn't know you liked them."

"I found a few one summer when I was a kid and I read them and I reread them until I memorized them. And then I built a thesis around why mutants were the way they were. Mutants are like me, I am different but to me I am normal." She paused looking at him and then at Jon. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, actually it does. Kind of the way I am around people. I'm different but everyone else is not normal."

"Normal people scare me." Jon added, standing up. "They make no sense in the world. They have their own language."

"Their own customs." Phil added.

"Neurotypical in understanding. They don't see what we see." Petula added, biting her lip. "When I see the stars I see it as a giant circuit board with bolts of electricity passing through it, lighting up the sky in one big black screen."

"When I wrestle, I feel like I have the ability to defy everyone." Jon said. "I feel like I can really make myself enjoy it now. It's what drove me to pursue this, to want this career. I get to be someone that I am not."

"I get to meet people, make people happy by performing for them. I do for others I wouldn't have otherwise done if I didn't get to be here. And when I'm a heel, it makes the fans even more involved in believing what I have to say, even when half of what I say is real." Phil stated, giving Petula a smile over the rack of comics.

"We're all different but that's what makes us who we are, Tula." She looked at Jon when he spoke.

"And who we are can't be measured by what other people think. It's measured by how we see ourselves."

Petula sighed. "I wouldn't have taken either of you for philosophical people."

And they were right. It wasn't how she thought other people would see her, it's how she saw herself. She she had a few rolls but...it didn't mean that she wasn't any less of a human.

"I guess we can be smart, too."

"As well as charming." Phil laughed as he plucked up some comics to look at.

"Handsome." Petula added, looking at Jon, hoping he would get the hint. He could call her beautiful, she had the right to say what was on her mind.

And he didn't reply. Never once had a woman said that he was handsome. Maybe he saw himself as Petula did, like his looks were not appreciated. She appreciated his looks and he appreciated hers. Maybe it wasn't all that different now. Now he understood why she was so self-conscious, because people only looked at her faults and not her accomplishments.

"Hey, you guys up for some food? I'm starting to get hungry." Phil spoke up, breaking into the silence that was ebbing between Petula and Jon.

"Uh sure, I guess so. I'm a little hungry after my work out this morning." Petula said.

"If that's sarcasm, Babe, you suck at it."

"Yeah, well you...you..." she had no come back for Jon.

"You can't wrestle worth crap." Phil grinned at The Shield member.

"At least I have more respect to not deck you right now, Punk. And there is a lady in our midst, it wouldn't be the gentlemanly thing to do."

"I don't think gentlemanly is a word." Phil said.

"Well it is now. Because I created it. I'm smart and I'm sophisticated." Jon held his chin a little higher.

"Right, you pass gas like a mach truck. I heard you the one time I fell asleep in your hotel room." Petula piped in. Probably not the smartest thing to say in front of Phil as he busted out laughing, holding onto the comic book rack for support. "I'm sorry, I didn't..." She looked at Jon, scared that he would be mad.

"Ah, who cares. It's a natural bodily function. I just never like doing it in front of a lady."

"Dude, you need to hear the stuff that gets around in the men's locker room. It's like a butt orchestra in there." Phil managed to say between laughs.

And that was an amusing thing to hear. She could just hear a bunch of men farting in front of each other and not saying anything, maybe even commenting about it with each other. "Do you grade them as well?" She asked.

"Nah, well sometimes if we're in a good mood. Otherwise it's as natural as breathing." Jon said. "Even then it's hard to do."

"Oh. Well, let's go buy these and we can go get something to eat."

Spending time with Phil and Jon was good. She felt normal but then again normal was overrated. They didn't seem to care that she spoke about things that normal women wouldn't dare speak about. She was honest, and honesty was the best policy. She thought that Jon would have gotten made for talking about him farting but Phil and him laughed it off. They didn't laugh at her, they were laughing about the topic.

It was nice to know that she wasn't the butt of someone's topic. She was glad to know that she wasn't the one that was being laughed at.

* * *

**I actually liked this chapter, it showed Petula's lack of social skills and how the men understood and played along with it. I hope you enjoyed it too. I like to hear what you have to say.**


	17. Chapter 17

A while later, Petula, Jon and Phil were sitting in a restaurant eating french fries and pulled pork burgers without a care in the world, or for their waist sizes. It was all in fun. Neither of the two men were going to tell Petula that she was eating badly, Phil was eating worse than she was and Jon was eating a chocolate pie for lunch.

"I finally got that RC robot to work with my tablet, I had to sinc the controls to my tablet that I have, but it works." Petula said. "I just don't know what to do with it. Maybe I should give it to someone who has a son. Mr. Jericho has a son, maybe I'll give it to him."

"That'd actually be nice. Boys like robots." Phil said, munching on a fry.

"I like robots." Petula glanced at him. "So...Phil...are you seeing someone, a girfriend? Sorry, I don't mean to be personal, it's just that...I don't know how to keep up with conversations real well."

"Don't worry, I get it, Sugar. No, I'm not. Not right now at least. Being on the road and dating tends to be a hard thing to do. You got guys like Cena and Orton getting divorced because they couldn't keep their hands to themselves. I live by old morals, I don't over step my boundaries when it comes to women, I respect them enough that I want them to know I put my heart and soul into the relationship. It's just that it's hard to bond with a woman when you're gone for nearly an entire year." Phil explained.

"That's why I slept with women, I loved them for one night but keeping a relationship was too demanding. I didn't respect them though, they weren't really my thing. I'd love them and leave them. Until you came along, showing me that care and respect for me as a person, not a celebrity, I've come to terms with it." The other superstar said, cutting a piece of his pie with his fork.

"That's good for you, Jon." Phil said, looking at the other superstar. "What about you, Sugar? Ever had a boyfriend?"

"No boys would want me, no man either. But...maybe I don't need a guy to make me happy. Sure I'd like to know what sex is, what it is like to actually kiss a man properly but...maybe I'm not ready yet. You two, and Stu, maybe Stephen, were the only men I've ever really considered friends. I've never had more than one friend before, because I was always so different. Besides a football player that befriended me through our math class, I've never had many friends."

"Then it's a good thing you consider us friends, Tula. I'm glad you're my friend." Jon told her.

"Yeah, same here." Phil smiled, dusting the salt off his hands. "Well I got to go. I've got a radio interview to do and I have other promotional crap to do tomorrow. See you at the arena tomorrow, Petula."

"Okay. I'll see you there." She nodded standing up.

Phil wasn't expecting it, but neither was Jon. She stood up and gave Phil a hug. It was an accomplishment on her part. It was brief, and with a slight pat on his back, Petula stepped back from him before sitting down.

"See ya, man. I'm not hugging ya if that's what you're thinking." Jon said, smirking at the bewildered brunette man.

Bewildered was right. But still...at least Petula was getting used the idea of touching people.

Hopefully he would touch her tinderly one day. Jon would love that.

* * *

Petula still wondered, what would it be like to kiss Jon? Stu kissed her and it felt good. But...she was still worried that it would be like betraying Stu in some way. She didn't know he had heard her and Jon talking, or his choice to stop pursuing her. She was flying in the dark and she didn't know how to land. She'd wish there was a runway at the end of the blackness around her.

The door to Jon's bathroom opened and he walked out...in just a pair of boxers. Jon had a defined set of abs. She looked at his legs, which were well built. His hair was damp from his shower and she rolled over to face away from him. Not that she didn't want to see him in this way but...he was so attractive. These feelings were getting stronger and stronger. More stronger than the ones she had for Stu.

Was this the right way to have an attraction to someone, she wondered.

"Night, Tula." Jon mumbled as he moved around to get comfortable.

"Night, Jon." She replied almost roboticly.

She didn't know how long she stayed awake, it must have been a while and Jon wasn't a snoring kind of person. Reaching up, she placed her fingers around the St. Michael pendant around her neck. Sometimes she forgot that it was there at all and it made her sad that she felt like she was forgetting about her dad.

"I don't know what to do, Dad." She said, as quietly as possible, rubbing the pendant.

Jon heard her, he'd been having trouble trying to get to sleep and when he heard Petula speak up, he knew that something was wrong. But instead of asking her if everything was okay he listened in.

"When Stu kissed me it felt good, but that was just Stu. Is it wrong that I want to kiss Jon?"

That threw him for a loop. His eyes snapped open. Stu kissed her? She was worried that she wanted to kiss him, Jon, and from the sounds of things she was worried that he wouldn't like it.

"I don't know what to do." She finally admitted before turning over on her side.

Better get to sleep, Jon mentally told himself. This was going to be an issue for him, just knowing that this pretty woman was sleeping on the bed across from him and she was indeed interested in him. But the fact remained that they had promised each other that they would try to work on making themselves better.

To love someone else you have to love yourself first. Jon needed to learn this fact. And as he slipped off into sleep, he hoped that Petula would learn this fact as well.

By morning the routine was Petula gets up before Jon to use the bathroom and then she would have to get Jon up afterwards. This was a routine, routine was her thing. She loved it, she loved knowing what to expect and when to expect it. Petula at least needed a plan of action or otherwise she would have a day like she did yesterday.

The gym hadn't been planned out well. But Petula wanted to go, she wanted to see how each of The Shield members worked out, and from that treadmill she could see just about everything going on. That is until AJ tossed a towel over her head and made her face plant on the treadmill. Before Petula was asked to leave for something she didn't do. Just thinking about it made her cry a little. But Stu and Jon had whisked her away to safety, a safety she was thankful for.

"Jon..." she had to touch him, not that he didn't mind her touching him, she just didn't know what was appropriate to do. "Jon." Petula cupped his bare shoulder with her hand as she shook him. "Wake up."

"What...what's wrong?" Jon jerked slightly at having been forced awake.

"I have to go to work this morning. I just wanted to let you know before I went." She said, buttoning up the work shirt she was wearing.

"Right, okay. Did you want me to drive you?"

"I'm walking. It's not far and I like walking. It gets my mind to ease up a bit."

"Tula, we're in the hottest part of the summer, in a city you know nothing about. I'm driving your ass to work."

"Jon..." She didn't know if she whined or what to the man. The look he gave her in return was just as confusing.

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Babe. Let me get dressed and then I'll drive you to the arena. Afterwards I'll come back and sleep, okay. Actually I'll have to get ready for a workout with Colby."

"Sure, I guess."

Jon got up and began getting dressed, in the bathroom, so that he could drive Petula to work at the arena. He'd promised to get in some early morning workout with Colby anyway. This surprised his Shield teammate. Jon didn't do early morning workouts. Jon figured he would change up his routine a little, but he hoped that Petula wouldn't get harrassed at work that day, considering what happened at the gym the previous day.

They bumped into Stephen and Stu on the way out, both heading down to the gym that was located in the hotel.

"Uh, hi." Petula fidgetted slightly as she glanced at Stephen.

"Bleedin' hell, Lass." He looked at her head. "That happen at the gym yesterday?" He asked motioning to her head.

"Cut it out, mate." Stu nudged the white Irishman.

"Um, yeah. It was from yesterday." Think of something to ask in return. "How is your leg doing? It's been pretty bad since MITB."

"I can bear it, Lass. Don't worry about me. Where ya both heading off to?"

"Jon's taking me to work. I have to be in at eight." Petula looked at her friend as he watched the interaction between the both of them.

"Yeah, then I'm heading in for a workout with Colby." Jon looked Stu over a bit. "After work we're going to be going out to eat. You guys want to head out with us?"

"Nah, it's your day today." Stu said, confusing Stephen but Jon understood what it meant. "I'll talk to her supervisor in bringing her to the tapings tomorrow though. Afterwards I plan on giving her boxing lessons."

"I'm standing here, you know." Petula spoke up, reaching under her glasses to rub her still tired eyes.

"Sorry, just saying, Pet. I'll be around later to talk to your supervisor, I promise."

"Okay, that sounds good to me." She smiled at him. "Come on, Jon, I hate being late for anything."

"Better not be late on your period, I'll have to kick some guy's ass for that." Jon chided, hoping she got the joke.

"I don't get it." She said.

"I'll explain on the way." He smiled slightly, putting his hand on her back and guiding her towards the elevator. "See ya boys around."

"Boys, we're older than you are, fella!" Stephen called out, only to get a limp wave in return. "What's with that metalic suitcase in her hand?"

"I think that's the RC robot she's been working on. She usually keeps it on the staff bus if she has to fly anywhere. Guess she's not been on a plane since last week after the tapings."

Stephen walked with Stu back to his room, who had forgotten something there. So this gave him some time to talk to his fellow European friend.

"I want to know something, fella. Are you giving up on pursuing your Pet?"

"I have decided to give it time. I heard Jon talking to her, making her understand that they need to fix themselves before they could attempt at dating anyone. I don't think I want to push her to the limit by wanting to date her. Petula, my Pet, needs someone who understands her and it appears that Jon Good really is good for her."

Considering everything that has happened recently, maybe it was a good thing. Stephen cared for the lass in his own way, could see that she was struggling with social skills but nevertheless, his friend was manning up and being there for Petula as a friend.

Just seeing Stu grow that way, Stephen knew that it would be okay.

Or would it?

* * *

**I think this was a continuation from the last chapter. How did you like it? Remember, I love having reviews.**


	18. Chapter 18

Petula was one person that didn't like to change up her routines, she preferred a constant and unexpecting life. Go to work, make things function and then head out. But when Jon and Stu came into her life after her father died they turned it upside down. Mr. Sylvan understood her issues with keeping a schedule but when these two men came around he let her slip from routine. Like when Petula asked to travel with Jon, which came out of nowhere.

Mr. Sylvan watched as Petula was working on the announcer's table. He wondered how long it would be before the cut backs would effect her. He'd been trying to prevent her from loosing her job, but it was hard now.

"Hey, Jim, what's on your mind?" Chris Jericho asked walking up in his jeans and shirt.

"Petula...that's what." He said. "I don't know how long I can keep her around before I'm forced to give her the pink slip. I appreciate you giving her a job here but with the damn cut backs, I don't think she'll last long."

Chris sighed. "I thought that would happen. I haven't seen her this happy in a while."

"Yeah, Ambrose and Barrett seem to really like her as well."

"Really? Huh, never would have thought that."

Mr. Sylvan filled the wrestler in on how she met them and how they came close. How Petula had found Ambrose's wallet and how Stu got attached to her because of her name and the fact that Petula's father had been from England. Now she had a close knit group of friends, between CM Punk, Ambrose, the rest of The Shield and now Barrett.

"She's been getting lessons in boxing from Barrett on Tuesdays, and she keeps it up at least thirty minutes a day."

"Yeah, she's lost weight." Chris looked the brunette over. "It's been what, two weeks since Barrett's been training her you said?"

"I think so. She's been getting healthy eating tips from Rollins. She smiles a little more, looks at people more in the face and...she just seems more happy."

"Any other issues with the divas?" Chris asked.

"Not in two weeks, no. I think AJ was threatened, but I'm starting to get worried, the Scotsman and Maddox are staring at her." Mr. Sylvan nodded off in the direction where Drew McIntyre and Brad Maddox were whispering to themselves. "She's been talking a little bit with Drew but Sheamus steps in from time to time. I don't think he likes her being near Drew, not after he cornered her in the hall. I think he accused her of using Barrett."

"I can only imagine how that is for her. It probably confused the hell out of her." Jericho shook his head. "Just keep an eye out for her, okay. If traveling with any of them between sets is fine then let her. She needs to be able to feel comfortable and if they make it possible then so be it."

Jericho nodded before moving away. Even though he didn't know Petula all that much he knew her well enough to know that she was different and that she didn't know social cues all that well. But he'd seen her with Jon and Stu over time and she looked right at home in their pressence.

* * *

In the two weeks that Petula had been training with boxing with Stu and on her own, she felt happier. Happier about herself and how she looks. Colby gave her eating tips while on the road and that has been helping. Fourteen days is not long enough to get a routine down, and routines on the road is hardly even possible. But it was still good to see Jon and Stu on Mondays and Tuesdays, add in Friday house shows she sometimes worked at and that was a schedule enough for her.

This was a Tuesday, she knew. So she would be hanging out with Stu after the show. Thirty minutes of boxing in Stu's room and then it was off to do whatever they wanted. Today, it was to see a movie at a theater. They had planned it out ahead of time, Petula didn't like changes in the routine all too much but she was becoming aware that changes were inevitable and that she was going to have to accept them.

"What movie are you seeing with Stu tonight?" Jon asked after he had found Petula doing the work she normally was.

"I don't know what it's called, The Conjuring I think. Paranormal horror movies sort of interest me." She admitted.

Jon stared at her. "I thought you weren't a religious person."

"I'm not, but it's good to understand something. I'm not even sure there is something or anything paranormal out there. I'm just going to be entertained. I'm on schedule for Friday's house show. Did you want to go out and do something?"

"Sure. I don't know what we could do. I think we've overstated dinner a bit." Petula looked at Jon before going back to work on the announcer's table.

"Overstated? Dinner isn't overstating anything. It's a natural thing to do at night after work." The man smiled. "But anyway, I was thinking that The Shield goes bowling. GIves Colby a chance to get over the fact he couldn't go home to see his girl. He's always boasting that he'll kick our ass at bowling."

"Um, sure. That actually sounds like fun."

"Have fun with Stu tonight." Jon rubbed her arm slightly before walking away so that he could get in some practice for his matches at the tapings.

After she had finished her work detail on the announcer's table, getting a thank you from Jerry the King Lawler as she was packing up her tools, Petula went backstage to find Stu. She was wondering if they were going to go back to the hotel before practicing like usual or if he wanted to train before the show. Either way she didn't care. She wanted to know if her left punches were as stupid looking as she thought they were.

"Are you seeing him?" She heard Alicia Fox say as she was walking by the diva. "Are you dating Stu?"

Petula looked at the dark skinned woman. "No, I'm not. He's my friend, along with Jon Good."

"Look, I'm not telling you not to see him." Alicia sighed, closing her eyes and leaning against the wall. "What I did was awful to him. Has he told you about it?"

"No, because I don't ask him. If he brings it up and wants to discuss it then he will but I don't go putting my nose where it doesn't belong." She replied, trying to choose her words carefully.

"I cheated on him. God, I liked him and another guy but...I went about it the wrong way. So...don't break his heart okay."

"I'm sort of in a bind, liking two guys at the same time. Stu's already kissed me, and I liked it. But..."

"You like Jon as well, huh? Yeah, I had the same issue. I liked two guys. If Stu's already kissed you then maybe you should try it out, try dating him. You already said you liked it when he kissed you."

Alicia was right, Petula did like the kiss from Stu. But the issue was that she liked Jon and Stu and it was a matter of time before something or someone screws up. Coming from the issue of her social issues, Petula didn't know what to do, she was just as lost as ever when it came to men.

The issue didn't get resolved when she found Drew, alone in the back hallway as she was going to find Stu.

"Hey..." he said, gently touching her arm to stop her. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

"I'm sort of in a rush, so..." she didn't know how to finish that sentence without making it sound like an insult.

"I want to take you out tonight."  
"Tonight I am with Stu. Tuesdays are Stu's days, and yes we joke about it. Unless you ask Stu if you can tag along I'm not breaking up this routine I have going with my friends."

He smirked. "Friends, right. Look, I know I haven't been much of a mate with you but you have to understand that I'm just looking out for my friend's well being. So when this strange women enters the picture so suddenly, I get a little worried."

"My Dad was an Englishman. My dad is dead, when I hear Stu's voice, it calms me. When I'm having a bat day I will ring Stu up just to talk and he doesn't mind. He helps me, he's a friend. Alicia already told me that she cheated on Stu, but my intentions are nothing more than just a friend to him right now. Until I know exactly what I feel towards him then we're just going to be friends."

Stu was just rounding the corner of the hall when he sees the most terrifying thing possible. He sees Petula, his Pet, talking to Drew. Ever since that time when Drew started crap with Petula, he hadn't been much in the way of talking to him. But what he sees chills him to the bone.

Drew reaches up and grabs Petula by the chin, lifting her face up towards his and presses his lips to hers.

Hungrily.

* * *

**Yeah, I know, a little short. But I'm trying. How did you like it regardless of the length?**


	19. Chapter 19

**I want to say I'm sorry that I haven't been around. I just ran out of steam I guess, or because I've been in a major funk when it comes to writing, or both. I haven't decided yet. I still haven't given up on this. Enjoy everyone.**

* * *

Stu was excited about spending his night with his Pet. He decided that even though he had promised himself that he wouldn't go after her this was a good time to ask her out and see what she said, since she had been around them for a while now.

He had just turned the corner, but he wasn't expecting to see his Pet down the hall. It's what he saw was something that made all the feelings drop through his boots. There was his Pet, she had been talking to Drew but suddenly the Scotsman had leaned down and kissed her. Both of Drew's hands came up and cupped her face to deepen the kiss. For the first time in a while he felt betrayed. Running a hand through his black hair, Stu turned and walked away.

It was the fear that flooded Petula, her hands trying to pry Drew off her face. But the Scotsman wasn't letting go. She was scared. She was petrified. Nothing in the world could stop Drew from kissing her, and her futile attempts at fighting him off was not working. Petula was scared, she really didn't know what to do.

Except...

She raised her right knee in a knee strike like Stu and Colby had recently taught to her. Sure enough, she was within striking range and sure enough again she had hit her mark. Almost instantly, Drew buckled from the force of her hit, holding himself and yelling out while crumpling to the floor. Instinct overcame her and Stu had always told her that in order to escape a situation like this, it was to run away.

Petula left just as confused as before. Petula just didn't know she was being set up, hadn't seen the woman with the phone as she left the area.

"Petula!" She heard a familiar man call out to her, making her come to a halt in the hallway.

Wiping her tears away, she watched Phil approach, jogging up in his street cloths. Just seeing his face, Petula broke down again.

"Whast did I do? What did I do to deserve this hell? I thought he was just protecting his friend from a mess up like me." She was moving her arms and hands wildly, just as wildly as her own racing thoughts.

"Calm down, Sugar." He grabbed her wrists. "Calm down, Petula. I saw everything. I saw it all. You did nothing wrong."

"I protected myself, that's what Stu has been teaching me when it comes to my boxing lessons. But why, why did he do that? What's his game?"

"That's just it, a game. It's all a damn game to him. He's doing this for fun, for the joyof making you feel, well confused. You were protecting yourself. Look, Sugar..." Phil let Petula's wrists go just as an irate Irishman bellowed from down the hall.

"I can't believe that damned Igget!" Stephen roared, making Petula jerk slightly. "Lass, are you okay? Did he hurt ya." She noticed how thick his Irish accent was now, it was mellowed when he talked normally but now it was thick. He also didn't touch her, like he was afraid she would break under his hands so Stephen just held his hands a few inches from her shoulders.

"I kneed him like Stu taught me." She wiped a few errant tears from her face as she spoke.

"He's being reported." Stephen said, looking at Phil slightly. "And as far as I'm concerned, his Ma is rollin' in her grave for what he did."

"Where's Stu?" Petula asked.

"I don't know." Phil answered, glancing at Stephen, who shrugged.

"Come on, Let's go find Jon, Joe and Colby. I think you will be safe with them." Stephen lightly touched her shoulder to steer her in the direction of The Shield's locker room.

Jon wasn't expectin to see Stephen escorting Tula into the locker room. Tula had been crying, Jon could see it in her red, puffy eyes. As he stood up from the bench he was sitting on, Tula ran to him. It's not that he was expecting it, well maybe he hadn't. He knew how much Tula didn't like being touched so to have her in his arms like this was not something he expected. And to top it off, she was crying.

"What happened?" Colby asked Stephen, who still stood at the door.

The Irishman growled slightly when seeing Petula's shoulders shaking. "Drew's what happen. Bleedin' kissed her and I think Stu saw it. He's soft on her and with all the shite going on lately..."

"We'll watch her. Find Stu." Joe said. "She needs him."

Joe was right, Stephen knew that. Finding the Englishman was his priority now. With one last look at Petula., he left knowing that Stu needed to be there for her. Stephen would be damned to let Drew ruin things for Stu, even Jon. But he thought Stu had a better chance with Petula than Jon. Personal preference of course. Seeing the lass in Jon's arms, not in Stu's, worried Stephen slightly. He found the men's locker room and found his friend in there. Sulking in the corner.

Stu looked so withdrawn Stephen knew that he was hurting as bad as Petula. When Stu looked up at Stephen, he spoke.

"What does he have that I don't?" Stu asked.

"Well, he ain't got a pair after she kneed him in the jollies."

"What?" To hear that from his friend was a shock to him.

"Drew's being reported, fella. He'll be facing a fine but won't be fired. Phil found Petula and I took her to The Shield for safety reasons. You ought to go see her. She's scared and confused. She needs her friend right now."

"Okay," came Stu's simply reply.

Jon had never cared so much for someone before. Not like he did for Petula, his little Tula. His?

As Jon sat next to the woman, his hand rubbing her back as she leaned on her knees, he wondered. Could he be hers? Could he be her Jon? It could be possible but he promised her nothing would come from having a relationship until he could maintain himself. Two weeks, hell the last couple of weeks with having Petula in his life was remarkable. Jon saw himself changing, he relealized, when Petula came into the picture. He'd stopped his old habits cold turkey when she showed up.

"Pet."

Oh yeah, there was that little issue.

Petula looked up, and upon seeing Stu at the door she whimpered. Was she scared of him now, Jon wondered looking at the Englishman.

"You saw it didn't you?" She asked.

"I did and I will admit I was pissed."

"Why? I didn't tell Drew to kiss me. And rightly I thought it was my fault."

"Was it?"

"Hey!" Jon yelled, making Petula jerk slightly away from him. "It's not her damn fault your friend could keep his hands off her. But isn't he the one that was making trouble before all of this? If I hear one more fat comment about her from him I'm shoving my fist down his damn throat."

Colby smirked. "And we'll hold him down, too." He nodded to Joe, who stood almost protectively next to where Petula sat on the couch.

Stu looked at the three men, watching Jon mostly. He'd gone back to trying to calm the shaking woman down. Stu hurt her, and she didn't do anything. Now who was the jackass, he thought sighing.

"Good bye, Petula." Stu said, turning back to the door to leave.

He called her by her real name. He hadn't done that in a long time, if ever. Now Petula was really scared.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you going to leave me, Stu?" She asked, standing up.

"You obviously need someone you can trust. Better him than someone else." Stu gestured towards Jon. "Best to let this calm down. Jon will take care of you, your supervisor might want to see you. Just prepare yourself."

"For what exactly?" Petula asked, feeling fresh tears falling down her face.

"What happened might get you fired. And I would rather you not loose your job over something as petty as this."

"Stu, I need you." She took a few steps towards him. "I've never had friends like you guys. I've got no one else besides you, my work crew friends and The Shield and a few others. I have no family. My dad's dead, my mother couldn't stick around because her daughter has issues. I've got no one else besides the few I do have. I don't want to loose you."

It actually pained him, it hit Stu directly in his heart to hear his Pet speak like that. He was all set to walk away from all of this, to give Jon Good the girl. But as a friend he couldn't do that. He still wanted her, but when things were like this she needed support.

"Of course, Pet." He finally conceaded. "While they are out in the ring I'll stay with you." Stu smiled slightly at her.

Jon fought the urge to take Tula in his arms. Why couldn't he? As he left, Jon saw Petula wrap her arms around Stu, her head buried in his chest. The man was wearing his ring gear, he was basically prancing around in underwear. It should be her in his arms. Jealousy ate at his rage, gnawing bitterly and hungrily. He wanted the woman, he wanted to be the one that consoled her. Even the thought of loosing her to this job gave fuel to the anger.

"Focus man." Joe's voice broke into Jon's raging thoughts. "Leave locker room drama in the locker room. You need to focus on our match."

"What are you, psychic now?" Jon questioned his friend.

"We know what you're going through." Colby said. "We know when you're in a funk. You just need to get your head in the match right now."

They were right. He needed to focus on the match at hand.

Easier said than done, Jon thought as he glanced down at the title belt around his waist.

Time to be the bad ass United States Champion that he was.

* * *

**So what you do you all think of this?**


	20. Chapter 20

He felt warm, Petula thought. Too bad it didn't last long. Stu pulled back, holding her at arms length by her shoulders and looked down at her.

"Did you really knee Drew in the jollies?" He asked.

She silently nodded. She knew Drew was a friend of Stu's, that they trained together back in Europe with Stephen. Petula wasn't sure if Stu would be mad that she had hurt his friend. That was the main reason why she was certain that he had been mad before, that she had hurt one of his friends. But he had been mad for a different reason.

"Just like you were taught to do?" Stu asked.

"Yes. I left as fast as I could. I was going to look for you but Phil found me first." She worried her lower lip with her teeth. "I mainly just wanted to get out of the danger zone."

Stu didn't say anything for a moment. His thumbs lightly rubbed at her shoulders where he still held her.

"Pet, I want you with me." He finally said.

"I don't," she didn't know what he was talking about. He wanted her with him? Wasn't she already with him in the room? Or did he mean something else.

"I mean I want to go out with you, on dates. Like a real couple. You be my girl."

"But if I'm, it I'm fired," she was panicing now.

"Shh, my Pet." He lightly got her chin with his thumb and index finger and then tilted her head up so that she was looking right at him. "You won't be fired. A group of us can be very persuasive together. And before you say you're not with it, you are worh every penny to me."

Petula mulled it over. It was worth a shot. She didn't want to loose him. But she didn't want to loose Jon either.

"We'll go slow, at your own pace, love. I don't want to loose you."

"Then why did you try to walk away from me?" She lightly pushed his hand away from her face. "You were all set to just leave, just like my mother, like others have before."

"It's not because of your social issues. It's because I...I thought you deserved someone better than me. I jumped the gun, Pet, when I had seen you with Drew, saw him kissing you, I felt like I lost you to someone else."

"But I didn't kiss him."

"Pet, I know that now. Now I know that he was playing something, something that is going to blow up sooner or later. What, I don't know what it is that he's doing and I hope to get an answer from him. I don't even know why he's doing this."

Just then Petula's phone went off, signally that her boss was calling. Stu watched as she answered on the third ring; he was as worried as she looked at the moment. She didn't say much. She looked pale though under her California sun kissed tan. She looked good to him, and almost unconsciously he cupped her wide hips in his hands. A perfect fit to him, where his hands were.

Petula finally hung up the phone and ran her fingers exhaustedly through her hair. "Vince called a meeting tomorrow at the hotel the WWE is staying at. Says he wants to hear my side of the story over breakfast at ten in the morning. Is this a normal thing for the company to do?"

"Only if it benefits the company, no. You would be in that meeting now instead of over breakfast." Stu replied, confused himself over what was expected of her.

Whish was if there was something to gain from this, to make an extra buck, where it would benefit them, now it scared Stu.

"Do you want me to come with you tomorrow morning to the breakfast?"

"Um, my boss, Mr. Timmons, will be there. I'll talk to Chris Irvine about it before tomorrow, I hope. But yes, I'd like that. Before we go, I would like to talk about it with Jon and the guys first."

"Of course."

Had it been too soon to ask her out? She hadn't said yes, Stu noted. Maybe she would forget and he'd ask her again later.

"We're back!" Colby hollered as he swung the door open. "Did you watch us?"

Instantly, Stu let Petula go, but Jon had seen where his hands had been. Petula didn't seem scared, possibly because she had been holding her phone like it was a life line. Something happened, Jon noted, and it wasn't because of Stu.

"Sorry, but I got a call from my boss. Vince McMahon called me into a breakfast meeting tomorrow morning."

"What the hell for?" Jon asked.

"Probably to use it in the shows, I'm guessing." Stu said. "Let me change and I'll come back to get you, Pet. We'll leave soon afterwards."

"Okay." She replied.

Joe shook head at Jon. A simple meaning, which meant not to press it. Whatever happened wasn't any of his business.

"Jon," he looked at Petula. The next thing he knew she approached him and agains wrapped her arms around him. He was beginning to like this, it felt right to have her head resting near his heart. "Whatever happens I want you as my support. I need you in my life, Jon."

He needed her, too. "Of course, Tula." He said, rubbing her back slightly.

Joe looked at Colby, who appeared unsure of what was going on. Maybe something had happened while they were gone. Colby didn't know. This was their friend who was so smitten with a girl for once, it would result in tragedy if he lost her. A downward spiral would occur for sure.

That anger from before flared up again as Jon watched Stu take Petula away. His jaw clenched so hard that his teeth popped slightly and his fists clenched as well, turning white against the force of his fingers curling into his palm while he watched Petula leave with the other superstar. He couldn't loose her to him.

"Calm on, Man." Colby spoke up. "Let's get out of here and go back to the hotel."

"Nah, I'm going out." Jon said as he headed over to his things. "Just take my crap back to my room. You have the extra keycard. I'll be back later. I need to blow off some steam."

Colby tried to argue but one look from his Samoan tag partner said it all. Don't get involved with Jon's issues. A simple shake of Joe's head said it all. Just don't do it.

* * *

A drink, one drink, just one Jon told himself. He'd walked from the arena that night in his street cloths, jeans and a black shirt with his combat boots. He didn't even try to get his hair to stay down, so he just threw a hat on and left with his wallet and key card. He knew Colby and Joe would take care of his stuff, and the title belt.

Jon found a bar that fit his style. No clubs, Jon wasn't a fan of the dance club scene. The music that floated about the bar was alternative rock, good enough to enjoy a beer with.

"Hey, Baby," a silky feminine voice said to his left and he watched as a woman sat down next to him at the bar. "Buy me a beer?" He wasn't sure if that was a question or a statement, not that he was interested.

Ah yes, just like the old times. This was familiar to him. Women flocked to him just for the one thing Jon could give them. And this woman was hoping very hard it looked like.

This woman was a painted blonde, her natural dull blonde was showing at the roots of her shoulder length hair style. He'd been in the WE long enough to notice fake hair color. Jon also could tell fake books and this woman had gone under the knife not just with her chest but with her face. He wondered if her nose was supposed to be pointed like that.

A simple sweep of his eyes gave him the idea that he could do her. She was good looking enough to love for one night. To forget his worries about what was going on. To bury himself into the old habits he was famous for.

The image of Petula entered his head. She was pretty as ever. It was when he was telling her that he was working on changing for her. Her words floated through his head as he remembered that night.

"You need to change for you, not me."

He made a promise and he was going to keep it.

"Sorry, Sunshine. I'm not that kind of man. Not anymore at least." He said, reaching for his beer bottle.

She huffed, pushing back the bar stool and headed off to the next sucker. One big gulp later, Jon had downed the rest of his beer, threw some cash on the counter and left the bar. Instead of calling for a cab, he decided he would walk. Just to burn off the remainder of his anger. Yeah, that's what Jon decided to do.

Jon took an hour to get back to the hotel. It took another five minutes to get up to his floor but he'd forgotten that Stu was also on this floor. Just as Jon Jon got to his hotel door, four doors down, there was Stu and Petula. And what he saw was a shock to him.

Stu leaned down and kissed Petula. And Petula happily kissed him back.

Bile rose up in the back of Jon's throat. Sick and defeated, he unlocked his door, entered his room and locked it behind him. He was hoping to lock the image of Petula and Stu together from his mind. But it didn't go away. It was a plague. As he closed his eyes all he could see with one of Stu's hands holding her body to Stu's body, the other holding her in place as she kissed him back.

Then Jon punched a wall and yelled. Not in physical pain but because he just lost his girl.

* * *

**Yep, I'm going there. So what do you think?**


	21. Chapter 21

**Eryessa sort of has her groove back. Enjoy it as the temperature rises for Jon. I had to change the rating of the story because of this chapter. So you've been warned.**

* * *

Petula pulled back, more like jerking back when she had heard that scream. Sure, the feel of Stu's lips on hers was inviting but that scream, the man scream that made her jump sounded so close, so nearby. After watching The Conjuring to get her mind off the events back at the arena, she was still a little jumpy. She remembered one part of the movie that scared her so bad that she grabbed Stu's arm and buried her face into it.

"It's okay, Pet." He smoothed her short hair down slightly. "Just someone having some fun. Come on, time to get ready for practice."

The events prior to this was good. Stu made sure she had forgotten what Drew did. As far as he was concerned, that man could drop off the face of the Earth. Stu decided to test the waters now, seeing if Petula would pull away from his romantic pursuits. So when she didn't, Stu wanted to jump for joy.

He'd finaly won over Jon for once.

* * *

Petula worked up a sweat, her arms and legs hurt, and her heart thrummed in her chest. Sweat dripped from her face while it coated her back in a light sheen. Needless to say, Stu was working her body hard tonight.

"Ready for more, Pet?" Stu asked from behind her.

She looked over her shoulder at his bare chest. Pushing herself off the floor, she readied herself for another Round. Stu held his hands up and she pointed her right foot towards him, and then swung. Petula's right gloved hand connected with the boxing mitt on Stu's right hand. There was a muffled thump when her glove met his mitt. Just like before, but this time with the left glove, she pointed her left foot towards Stu and swung. Her left met his left before she quickly mimicked the actions all over again. She had a weak left cross punch, as Stu explianed it. So they were working on that together.

Apparently a late night visit to the hotel's twenty-four hour gym was their only thing at the moment. With a minor exception of Colby over on the tredmill machines. He was a fintness addict, besides being a wrestling addict that is.

But Colby hadn't tried to talk to them. He was content to watch from afar. This whole Jon/Petula/Stu thing was confusing. How could Stu go from trying to drop her off and skip town to being her friend? This perturbed Colby. It felt like both men were trying win Petula over. With brutal reactions on Jon's side, Colby was worried Petula would get hurt in the cross fire. He cared for his newfound friend, this unique girl with a quick eye for mechanics, electronics and robotics.

Colby accidentally broke his phone by dropping it the previous week and was all too pissed off about it. All Petula did was pick it up and told him to wait a few hours. About three hours later, after a Raw show had gone off the air, his phone was fixed, with a new screen and everything. It had a broken screen but when Petula brought it back it was gone, fixed. It was even working better than before it had been broken. All his pictures of his dog Kevin was still there, along with an added one of Petula posing in front of a restroom mirror. Colby had been so thrilled that Petula fixed his phone he hugged her. Petula only hugged on her terms and it had been mainly Jon she would touch, or Stu. She allowed Colby to hug her and it wwas good to see her smile at him for once.

That was when Colby considered Petual a sister-like friend to him. That' why he was watching Stu and Petula like a hawk in that gym that night. Almost instantly he saw what had changed between Stu and Petula. After the work out was finished between the two of them, Petula gave Stu a quick kiss before heading off to the women's locker room.

Aw shit, Colby knew now. Petula and Stu were some kind of item. That was going to throw a wrench into everything. Especially if Jon were to find out.

After Stu and Petula left the gym around 12:30 AM, Colby headed out after them, fifteen minutes later. Bed was screaming his name. And the option weight on his head and heart.

Doe he tell Jon about Stu and Petula? Or does he not say a word?

Unfortunately, Jon already knew.

* * *

Jon wished it was real, because it felt real. He could see her beneath him. He could feel her hands running up and down his back. He was lost in the throws of making her scream his name. Sweat made her flesh stick to his, causing a friction between them as he moved rapidly. Her skin felt great. Her body was perfect, regardless of how she saw herself. He loved her over and over, in many different ways. He brought her to her peak and back again time and time again, as he always had in these states of bliss and fantasy. At least here he did. Here is where it mattered to him, his desires played out before him, with this wonderful woman he loved unconditionally.

Just the way her breasts moved as he rolled his hips forward, while he rested over her. Petula's hair was sticking up madly from the previous adventures he had with her. His fantasies, his desires, they felt so real in this state. He could feel her breath against his collar bone as she pressed her face to his skin. Sometimes she would even bite him, drawing out a groan of pleasure and desire. If it was only real, then he could show the real one how it was done. How she could please him just like this. How he could please her in return.

Petula's moans increased, her knees holding him in the right place for the right amount of access. Jon was going to loose it soon and to the woman he was loving beneath him.

"Open up for me." He heard her say, through the pants and sighs she was giving to him.

"Open up for me, Babe." He replied, pushing faster than before, about to cum any second.

A soft knocking broke through the room. Slowly his woman started to fade beneath him, leaving him to the fate of being lost to a mere dream. A dream he had been having for the last week or so. The same dream that always ended just before he gave her every drop of him. It always felt so real, but having to wake up from the dream was a nightmare. He ached in so many ways that it was hard to release it. Especially now that someone was knocking at his hotel door.

Preparing to yell at the person on the other side of the door for waking him up at half past nine, Jon only stopped when seeing the object of his torrential emotions standing there. She wore a suit, something he had never thought was possible for Petula to own. She normally wore jeans and t-shirts, but this was a blouse and some sort of pants he couldn't place. Very business like with a touch of lip gloss. He'd never seen her wear make up before, so this was a pleasure and a curse to see. Just another dream to add to his mind for later.

Petula smiled meekly at him. "Hi, good monring, Jon. Can I ask you something?" She tried to ignore the fact that he was solely in just a pair of boxers. She had to admit, he had some nice legs.

Scrubbing a hand over his face, Jon yawned widely. "Sure, Babe, what is it?"

"Stu was supposed to take me to that breakfast meeting this morning but he was called off to do some interviews today. I don't want to go to it alone. I mean my boss will be there but," she fidgeted with the cuff of the blazer she was wearing.

"Okay."

"Okay?" She repeated.

"Okay, I'll go with you. Come in and I'll get dressed." He stepped aside for her to enter the room.

Petula knew something was off with Jon. He seemed so tense. She watching him in silence, pondering why he seemed different this morning. He grabbed some clean cloths from his travel bags, went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Could she loose her job, she thought. Chris had said he'd talk to Vince about it, hopefully he'd be at the meeting, Chris. Petula wanted all her friends to be there. Except Colby and Joe were still sleeping, she didn't know where either Phil or Stephen were exactly and she had hoped Stu would have gone. But with his interviews and stuff, she'd hoped Jon would be the one to help her out.

Because of how she was, she wondered if she and Stu were an item. A couple. Were they? If so, how would the others take the news? Would they be happy? She knew Jon wanted her, along with Stu, so she ruining her friendship with Jon? It seemed like a big round circle of emotion to her.

"Hello, Tula. You in there?" She heard Jon speak. "I asked if you're ready to go."

She looked at him, amazed to see him in a navy blue button up shirt but still wore pants and some sort of trendy looking black boots. To her, Jon looked good. He even shaved while she was so drawn into her thoughts. He looked good not that he ever looked bad before.

"Oh yeah. Sorry, I was thinking about something." She responded, trying not to mess up her glossed lips by biting them.

"No biggie. I understand." He patted her back before head towards the hotel room door. "Come on, Babe. Let's get out of here."

This meeting could make or break Petula. Her life in the WWE business counted on it.

Jon knew he didn't want to loose her. Not to the job, not to the company and not to Stu as well.

* * *

**How do you like this installment so far? Yeah, yeah, I know all of you probably don't like that Stu is with Petula but I had a brain buster idea. Let's just roll with it and see how this turns out for the love triangle trio. **


	22. Chapter 22

**I am sorry if I disturbed the readers with my last update. I guess I was trying to portray Jon's desires for Petula the only way he knew how. I hope I can do better with this update. Tell me what you think.**

* * *

A yawn escaped Jon's mouth as he and Petula waited for Vince McMahon, Paul Levesque and Petula's boss, Mr. Timmons, to arrive. It was still fairly early, close enough to ten and it was a good thing Jon hadn't any interviews or appearances that day. Jon wasn't much of a coffee drinker but it was doing the trick of keeping him awake. Petula, not ever a coffee drinker, had ordered a glass of Coke for breakfast. Nope, not normal in the least but Jon wasn't complaining.

It was just the way he liked her actually.

"Sorry if I got you up this early, Jon." She finally said.

"Don't worry about it, Babe." He waver her off half hazardly with one hand. "I needed to get up anyway. Besides, I know how nervous you get when your routines change."

He was right. It took her a while to get used to sharing time with Stu and him, traveling and working all at the same time. Could it be difficult for her now with the Englishman in tow? Petula saw the sudden change in Jon's face He was scowling, like he was mad about something.

"Are you okay, Jon?"

"I'm fine." He sighed, reaching for his coffee cup.

"You'd tell me if you weren't, right?"

"Of course, Babe."

Why was he doing this, just being around her right now, after what he had experienced last night. As far as Jon was concerned, Stu had won. So why doesn't he just leave? Leave the situation behind him? Stu had walked away, practically let his buddy treat her like crap and didn't really do anything about it. It was Jon who had been there for her properly.

So why was he here in the hotel restaurant, drinking a cup of coffee and sitting next to the object of his desire? Because he was being a damn gentleman that's why.

"Jon, what happened to your hand?" Petula asked.

Oh right, he had punched a wall because she'd been kissing Stu. Now he needed to figure out another lie to tell her.

"Scraped it, nothing to worry about." He said looking at his bandaged hand, where a few ill placed bandaides were covering some minor cuts over his knuckles.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Babe. It's too hear for you questions right now." Jon was blunt and his bluntness wasn't hurtful. He knew she never got a hint unless someone told her she was being a pain. "And stop fidgeting. Everything will be okay."

She hoped so. This, all of this, would end if she was fired. Dang it, she needed a smoke now.

Mr. Timmons showed up five minutes later. He was older than Mr. Sylvan, with thinning white hair and a Paul Heyman body. Mr. Timmons kind of creeped her out but with Jon sitting next to her, she felt better. She wouldn't go at this alone. Not while Jon was there.

"What are you doing here?" Mr. TImmons asked Jon, looking the superstar over slightly.

"Supporting my friend." He stated flatly.

Mr. Timmons didn't look so thrilled about that answer. "You would risk your career to be with her?" He gestured to Petula.

"What are you getting at?" Jon asked.

"Nothing." Mr. Timmons said quickly before standing just as fast. "Mr. McMahon, Mr. Levesque..." he started to say.

They had arrived together and were approaching behind Jon, who turned to look at them. The both of them were all smiles, he noted as Petula stood up respectfully. Jon stood as well, being respectful of his bosses. Last thing he wanted was to be repremanded for being disrespectful towards either VInce or Paul. He had to work close with them now, so he knew where his career stood with them involved.

"Jon, what are you doing here?" Paul asked, reaching out to shake his hand.

"I'm here in support of Ms. Petula Clarke."

Vince looked towards the only woman in the group of men. "Ah, the one who hurt one of my superstars."

"I'm sorry I did that, sir." She said.

"No need for apologies. I was hoping someone would do that. He needed his balls kicked in for a while now." Paul stated.

"Um," Petula glanced at Jon, unsure of what to do or say to these two. Not like he would help her out in this uncomfortable matter.

"Sit, sit." Vince motioned to the table, and all took their places around it. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No, sir." Petula sounded so young. She was so scared. Would she loose her job?

Jon was sure she was close to a panic attack. Not that he had ever witnessed one before but that's what it looked like to him.

"So, Petula, can you explain your relationship with Drew Galloway, the man you accosted yesterday?" Mr. Timmons got right into the meeting.

"He is Stu Bennett's friend. But my dealings with Drew was usually in the company of Stu and Stephen Farrelly. He had given me issures before, when I first began as a friend with Stu." SHe ran her fingers over her glass, whiping at the condensation that was gathering there.

"I know about AJ's issues with you. I saw that incident at the gym." Paul said.

"What incident? What gym?" Vince asked.

Paul told about what happened a while back. The tredmill assault that left a bruise on Petula's forehead. Also explained how Petula was asked to leave because she was causing a scene. Petula's boss snorted slightly after the story was told, it reminded Jon of a pig in a way.

"Never figured you for a gym person, Ms. Clarke." He said.

"No, I'm not. Not really. I just..." Petula fumbled with her words, feeling embarressed.

"Looks like you're not the gym type either, Mr. Timmons. What is it that you do for this company anyway?" Paul asked bringing the conversation back around again.

"I oversee the staff and workers, making sure they are doing their jobs."

"Ah, I see. And has Ms. Clarke here fulfilled her duties?" VInce asked, motioning to Petula. She didn't look up from her glass of soda. "Is she a responsible worker?"

"Yes but...Look, Mr. McMahon she's a retard." The moment the words were out of his mouth Jon sat up straighter, his focus on the portly man in front of him. "Ms. AJ Lee told me so, said that because she's autistic and fraternizing with the talent, Ms. Clarke shouldn't be working for the company."

"I thought we got rid of that policy." Paul looked at Vince.

"I thought so, too. So you didn't know she was autistic?"

"Jack Sylvan, he hires the staff for me. I didn't know and if I had then she would have been terminated a long time ago." Mr. Timmons said, sweat appearing on his brow.

"She seems capable to me." Paul opened a file folder he had brought with him. "Qualified, too, almost too qualified. I mean she's a robotics egineer, worked with the Robot Combat League with a high recommendation from Chris Irvine, I mean Chris Jericho. She's a basic electrical technician with us. Aside from family issures, I mean her father was a decorated LAPD homicide detective did pass away of a brain tumor, I don't see anything wrong with her not being capable of working for us. You were aware of her family history, am I right?"

Now Jon understood the meaning of this meeting. It wasn't about Petula at all. It was about a performance review of Mr. Timmons.

"Now, this incident we've already covered with Drew and AJ Lee, considered she was the one that filmed the incident." Paul said, looking up from the folder. "But you weren't going to listen to Ms. Clarke's side of the story. Your request to terminate her employment was solely because she's autistic goes without saying what kind of man you truly are, Mr. Timmons. And besides all of this, there have been some reports against you by other staff and employees of this company as it were."

Petula never really dealt with Mr. Timmons, it was always her supervisor, Mr. Sylvan, that did it for her. Mr. Sylvan made sure that Petula never dealth with their boss. He was protecting her, she realized as she watched Mr. Timmons practically squirming in his seat.

"And the petition to terminate the employment of Jack Sylvan is being turned down. You know, you're supposed to come to me about anything regarding the interactions between staff and the talent." Paul told Mr. Timmons.

Jon leaned back in his chair. He was smirking like his character Dean Ambrose because he was really enjoying seeing justice paid to the injustice. The injustice of someone like Timmons. This was entertaining to him. Best thing to happen all morning, besides Petula coming to him for help.

But Petula was confused. She thought this was about what happened the night before, between Drew and her.

"I've worked for this company for five years. And now you would rather believe a fat retard and fire me all because of some bad reports?" Mr. Timmons asked.

"What did you call her?" Jon almost yelled, slamming his hands down on the table and making their drinks shake almost violently. He stood up so fast that Petula wasn't expecting it. Good thing Timmons was across the table from then, otherwise Jon would have attacked the fat man. "You deserve my boot in your ass for saying shit like that about my friend. She is someone I care a lot about and am seeing to that stupid shits like you don't come near her."

"Jon, stop." Petula grabbed his arm. "Don't risk your career over this. I've had worse said and even worse done to me. Don't, Jon, I'm begging you, just don't."

As the superstar turned to look down at her, since she had been sitting through Jon's outburst, he was shocked to see how calm she was. Before she had been almost petrified. But now, it was like she was used to hearing people talk about her like that. It was something she'd come to accept. But not him. He would never accept hatred against her from someone like this POS Mr. Timmons.

"I'd rather believe a retard over someone like you, Timmons. Please take no offense to my statement, Ms. Clarke, I'm just trying to prove a point here." Vince addressed the young woman as Jon finally calmed down enough to sit back in his seat. "Anyway, to conclude this meeting, I have decided that you will get your next check in the mail, Mr. Timmons. And I'm sorry to say, you're being released from this company active immediately.

In almost a feminine huff, the thinning white haired man in the tan suit stood up. He left with a parting glare at Petula, who was still holding Jon's arm as she sat next to him. It was an effort to keep Jon from leaping over the table and taking out his own brand of justice on the man. And after Timmons left the hotel restaurant, an ease sort of fell over the party of four now.

Vince turned back to Petula and Jon, a smile on his face. "Well, let's not waste a perfectly good breakfast on a man like him. Have you ordered yet?"

* * *

"Tula," Jon spoke up outside Petula's Motel 6 room that she was unlocking. "We need to talk about something."

Jon had walked her to her motel because she would be traveling with him to the house show that Friday before joining the rest of the staff to go to the Monday Night Raw stage. Then it would be a week before Summerslam. And Jon already had a full plate, like a lot of people who were involved with the company knew how these big main event pay-per-views were so hectic. Summerslam and Wrestlmania were the worst by far, especially with all the press release stuff. And now he had to worry about Petula's safety, not just with what he saw with Stu but from others.

"What about?" She asked, opening the door to the motel room.

They walked into her small room. Well one thing was clear, she hadn't slept there the night before. She probably picked up her overnight bag when she left with Stu. She probably slept with him, too. So now it was even harder to ask but he knew he had to do it.

"Are you and Stu together, as like a couple?"

"I guess. He asked me out on a date for next Tuesday. I said yes." She looked at him. Well that was a confirmation for Jon. "But does that change anything with us?"

He shook his head. "Guess not, Babe. Need help packing?"

"Sure. And thank you for offerig to get me to Friday's house show."

"Anything for you, Tula. We're friends after all."

At least she would still be around him. Petula hadn't lost her job, she was still going to be at the shows, she was still going to around him. And Mondays were still Jon's days, she declared.

That was the best he could hope for.

At least for now.

* * *

**Well, did it capture your attention, or did it flop like a fish?**


	23. Chapter 23

**Just so that you all know, I am having computer problems right now. I had to borrow someone else's computer. So until I can figure out how to fix mine, updates might be irregular for a little while. I'm just happy that I could get this done right now. And also thanks for all your reviews. I enjoy reading what all of you think. Enjoy this update!**

* * *

A week, a whole damn week Jon spent longing for a woman he couldn't have. Granted he didn't loose touch with her, Mondays were still his days to spend with her. But Stu made it very clear, don't over step the boundaries.

Petula was finally his, Stu's and no one could a damn thing about it.

"Sucks doesn't it?" A woman said and not just any woman eitherl. AJ Lee was back in the picture. This didn't look good at all.

"What do you want?" Jon asked, going back to watching Petula set up the announcer's table.

"Longing for something you can't have?" She cooed, blatantly ignoring his question, stepping a little too close for comfort. "I bet she didn't wait long to jump in bed with him. I had my taste of the Englishman when he got drunk after his previous breakup with Alicia Fox." She smiled toyly reaching up to touch Jon's arm.

The only thing that really went through Jon's mind was of Petula and Stu together in a bed. A bed that was supposed to be his, and she was supposed to be his as well. But like always, he had been one upped by someone else before him. Just the thought of Stu touching Petula in the ways he'd wish he could made a growl escape his mouth. Then he hissed when he realized that AJ had scraped him with her nails, right on the underside of his forearm. Marking him as hers. A cat's toy.

"I bet I could get your mind off of her." AJ added to her verbal assault.

Jon shook his head, stepping back from her. "No you can't. And you know why?" She shook her head, playing the innocent little girl act that she did. "Once a locker room slut, always a locker room slut." Her face fell. "I mean Cena, really? And Orton? You really do sleep your way to the top, huh?" His eyes glared while his mouth smirked at that small brunette woman. "Oh, and if you even think about going after Petula Clarke again, you won't have a job left, Sunshine."

AJ's left with a wilted scowl and a busted ego that followed right after her.

Serves her right, trying to toy with his emotions. He was the expert at that. AJ Lee wouldn't survive one night if Jon really did turn on the Dean Ambrose charm.

But in some ways he hoped the psychotic bitch wasn't right. About Petula climbing in bed with Stu so soon. He wouldn't put it past the Englishman to try that. But he had his faith in Petula. She may be naive about some things but she had a fire in her heart. If she didn't want to go after something she didn't, and Jon knew that. He'd hoped Stu would find that out, she wasn't easy. Not in the long run.

Summerslam was a week away and Jon had been so busy and so tired that if he had anymore explicit dreams of Petula then he wasn't aware of them. He enjoyed that. Honestly as he mulled it over, while still watching Petula work, he was aware of his infatuation with her wasn't really a healthy one.

That last dream was so real but he knew if he dwelled on them long enough an obsession would form. So not dreaming of Petula was beneficial for him. Nothing good would come out of pining for something, or someone he couldn't have. He needed to tone it down, for his sake and for Petula's. Regardless that she was with Stu now, she didn't need the drama in the form of an under-sexed Jonathan Good at this moment. She didn't need a stalker.

Those never came out right in the end.

"How's she doing?" Mr. Sylvan asked approaching Jon.

Jon glanced at the older man, though well in his forties still didn't look his age. He was a few inches shorter than Jon, wore the usual staff uniform of WWE logo shirt and slacks with tennis shoes but he appeared to be well kept when it came to his appearance. Clean shaven almost every time Jon seen him. Yet this time Mr. Sylvan looked a bit haggard.

"So far so good, she seems okay. I haven't seen Stu acting inappropriately towards her, at least that I know of. I haven't seen Drew around, just mainly Stu, Stephen and PJ.

PJ was Paul Lloyd or Justin Gabriel in the business. He was also a friend of Stu's and supposedly a good guy. Now some of the stuff he heard of this superstar wasn't all too angelic. But then again, neither was Jon.

Apparently nobody is perfect.

"Do you have her tonight?" Mr. Sylvan asked.

Ever since Timmons had been canned, Sylvan had taken over Timmons duties as boss with the staff while still managing mainly the techs and people of that nature. He still kept the peace around backstage even though he wasn't a producer of the show or anything. Though haggard from working extra hard for the WWE, he still took a special fatherly interest in Petula. He always worried for her and would be damned if she got into another scandalous predicament.

"Has AJ started anything?" Sylvan asked.

"After being warned, she was the one who filmed the Drew Incident, she hasn't neared Petula. She did propositioned me." Jon looked away from Petula's supervisor. "And tonight Joe, Colby and I are taking her bowling. Since we're on for tomorrow's tapings we'll bring her in for her shift. We want to get some in ring practice in before the show."

"Good. Wednesday she and the rest of the workers are heading out to LA to start setup for the Summerslam stage. I thought you should know."

"Thanks for the heads up."

Petula needed time away from him, from Stu and everything associated with the company. She needed her time, Jon knew this. Time away from her would be beneficial for him as well.

* * *

Petula smiled at Stu, who had picked up her fallen screwdriver. "Thanks, Stu. I'm almost done with the set up of the announcer's table. One more wire to go and this thing will be prepared for someone to smash."

So what are you doing tonight?"

"Jon, Joe, Colby and I are going bowling." She responded as she went back to work under the table.

"Pet, I don't want you to."

Petula glanced at the Englishman. "You don't want me to do what?"

"Be around Jon."

She stopped working on the monitor. "Why? I thought you didn't mind me spending Mondays with Jon and the guys while I spend Tuesdays and part of Wednesdays with you."

"You know I don't trust Jon Good, not with you at least."

"You can't make me give up my friendship with Jon solely because of that. Jon is my friend, along with Joe, Colby and your friends, except for Drew. Why do you not want me to be Jon's friend?"

Before Stu could answer Daniel Bryan walked up to him. "Hey, we need to prepare for our part in the show tonight." He glanced down at Petula. "Sorry, was I interrupting something?"

"No, not really. I'll see you later, Pet." Stu looked at her before walking off with his co-worker.

What was the change? Would he be like the horror stories she's read and heard about from her father? Where the boyfriends and husbands try to control everything about the women's lives? Was Stu even capable of that? Petula knew that she would have to remain on high alert if she was going to stay with Stu.

But could she risk it?

* * *

Relaxing on the road was next to impossible. Jon's been through it time and again to where even sleep was next to impossible. Jon's been through it time and again to where even sleep was almost non-existent. But on this Monday night, with a week until Summerslam, he was making sure he enjoyed himself in the company of his Shield teammates and with Petula.

It's just no one expected this to be a competition between Jon and Petula. Even during the first game Colby and Joe noticed that Jon was a skilled bowler, a little know fact he didn't she with much of anyone. And Petula, well she kept quiet until Joe said the magic words.

"There's got to be a science behind this and why I keep getting gutter shots."

"There is a science, it's an equation really." She said getting up to get her bowling ball as Joe sat down next to Colby. She proceeded to tell them the equation and a little known fact about bowling lanes in general. "You have to understand the lanes themselves. See, halfway up the land it's waxed so if you appkly the right amount of force and spin to the ball then you can get a relatively nice score. Here, I'll show you since it's my turn."

Low and behold, she got a strike on this turn. Now it was on in Jon's opinion.

"Yeah well, spending my weekends at the local bowling alley just to get away from my life at home gave me the practice I needed. Let me show you my game." Jon said as he stood up for his turn.

Petula was quiet for a moment. She didn't know if she should speak about the matter of what was going on, or whatever. Making conversations like these were sort of difficult for her to do. Taking a deep breath she thought about bowling lanes and how they were important to her.

"Dad would take me bowling on his days off, even on a school night. We'd spend an hour or so bowling, just the two of us at this one special place that knew us by face and name. But when I got to college at sixteen it sort of fell away. I still bowl when I can but ever since my dad got sick, I stopped doing it with him before he died."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Colby said looking at Petula.

Jon glanced over his shoulder at the three people that probably understood him the most. But he still had his turn to make and after picking up the spare on his second try after he screwed it up on his first, he sat back down so that he could listen to Joe speak about his family.

"Apparently the only ball he's touched is a football." Colby jabbed a thumb at Joe, who scowled at his friend in return.

"College and some in the NFL but I never saw any field time. When that didn't pan out, I turned to my family's heritage, which was wrestling."

"Um, I don't know anything about wrestling." Petula said. "Or the history of the WWE. I may know people from here but the business itself doesn't make sense to me."

"Well, my cousins are The Usos, their dad is Rakishi. My dad was one half of the Wild Samoans, known as Sika. My brother Matt wrestled under the name Rosey for a while. Dad and I are both Leati but I go by Joe. As you can tell, I honor my Samoan heritage." He motioned to his right arm where his tribal tattoo was located.

"I'm English/French on my Dad's side at least. Dad didn't like talking about my mom." Petula watched Jon closely, since he hadn't spoken during this whole exchange of words. "It was a sore subject for him.

"All right, less talk and more game play. Colby, you're up." Jon declared, trying to end an almost painful silence between the four of them in a noisy place like this was right now.

"Oh goodie. Watch me get my butt whipped by a girl." He rolled his eyes as he got up.

"He's jealous because he's in third place." Jon laughed, adjusting his place in those stupid plastic chairs. "Enjoying yourself, Babe?"

"Loads, actually. Most fun I've had in a long time. Thanks for making this happen." She said, smiling at him.

Colby had confided in Joe about what he saw between Stu and Petula at the gym the previous week. The kiss from hell as Colby was calling it. Joe knew in order to stay out of the crosshairs of Jon's rage was to stay out of Jon's personal business. He knew Jon would confide in them when he was ready.

Joe just hoped it would be sooner rather than later. If it's later something bad could happen.

Real bad.


	24. Chapter 24

Tapings on Tuesdays are not as tedious at times. Petula would arrive at the arena for set up, stay during the tapings to do odd jobs and then leave with Stu at the end of the shows. This night, Stu had a dark match. Petula knew that dark matches were so called because even though they happened during the tapings, it wouldn't be aired during the actual shows. So at least Stu would be working.

"What are you and Stu doing after the tapings?" Jon asked as Petula handed him and Colby a water bottle each.

"We're going for a jog together." She answered.

"Yeah? Last week was the gym and now a jog?" Joe shoved Colby for his snide question. "What?"

"Yeah, what?" Petula asked.

"When did you and Stu become an item? Does he know?" Colby nodded towards Jon, who remained almost deathly silent during this entire thing.

"Fool." Joe growled, turning away from his teammate.

"Last week." Jon answered. "I found out last week and it's okay with me. I'm not disappointed. I have made it clear with Tula that if he does anything wrong, I'm going to kick his ass."

And he has on numerous occasions since the previous week, Petula knew that much.

"Really," Colby sounded shocked.

"Who are you, The Miz now? Joe asked, shaking his head. "Come on, it's almost time for out part of the show."

Petula didn't let Jon leave until he gave her a hug. She was getting more and more comfortable with Jon, more at ease with him. She even liked his smell. But she quickly reminded herself that she was with Stu. So she quickly pulled back after realizing this fact.

"Sorry, I," she started to say.

"Gotta go, Babe. I'll see you at the Summerslam Stage. Call me later if you need anything." He squeezed her shoulders slightly before exiting the locker room.

Conflict was not Petula's thing, she ran away from it. Literally she has before. But conflict within herself was a different matter. She couldn't run away from it. Conflict in that it felt good to hug Jon but did it mean she was being unfaithful to Stu? This social stuff wasn't her specialty, robotics was. She left the locker room to go in search of Stu, since his match should be over by then.

"Something wrong?" A cold voice asked.

Petula glanced up, not thrilled to see AJ Lee, the bane of her existence. What did she want? Instead of answering, the tech remained silent.

"You don't belong here, you know that right?" AJ asked. "You don't belong with us, you shouldn't even be dating us. That's right, I know about you and Stu being together. Remember, I can get anyone I want at anytime I want. Your little innocent act will be a thing of the past once I've finished with you. You're just a fat, ugly thing, the only reason why any of them are around you is because they feel sorry for your pathetic existence. Retard."

AJ shoved by her, painfully ramming her shoulder into Petula's. She had that sinister smile on her face.

What was she going to do about it? About any of this?

Maybe it was time for her to find another job.

* * *

"Love, are you ready?" Stu asked, knocking on the bathroom door in his room.

They were going on a night jog this night. Stu had some issues with sleeping while on the road like he was and he was hoping a jog could tire him out. But when Petula came out she didn't look too thrilled. She looked okay in sports shirt and a pair of jogging shorts. The air was stuffy that night, after all this was the West Coast during the summer. It was humidly hot in the area and with LA nearing on their trip it was going to get hotter. Petula looked like she was uncertain. All the times that he had been training her she was usually only with him, not really going out in public while training.

"What is it, Pet?" Stu asked.

She shrugged in response.

"Come now, you can tell me, Love." Stu grasped her hips, pulling her towards him, swaying them in a silent dance. "What's wrong?"

"I want to tinker with something." She looked at him before focusing at the center of his body. "Guess I'm just missing my robot project I started. I gave it to Jericho for his son."

"Oh, I see. Well maybe we can figure something out while on our jog. Before you start a new project you need to make a plan. Here, take these."'

He found a small spiral notebook and a pen in one of his bags. Stu handed them over to Petula, who had that innocent smile on her face.

"This is to write stuff down as they come to you. If you have a thought, stop and write it down. But please, please, My Pet, tell me. I'd kick myself if you got lost or hurt tonight."

"Okay." She took the items from him.

Well it was a start. Stu got it that her real passion in life was robotics, that was what she wanted to do, program robots and things like that. Even as they headed out for their jog, Petula became oddly quiet again as she held her notebook in one hand and the pen in the other.

What happened during the tapings, he wondered as they headed down towards the lobby.

The jog itself was okay. It was muggy, it was still warm and it was nothing for the long legged Englishman. But for someone like Petula, she was sweating up a storm. And speaking of storm, it was like the heavens decided to open up on them half way through their jog.

With cloths and notebook still relatively wet, Petula had to sprint run just to keep up with Stu as they ran back to the hotel. Luckily they hadn't been that far from the hotel when it started to rain.

"Oh, Love, you look like a drowned rat." Stu said looking back at her as she made it inside. "Come on, I think we've had enough fun for the night."

"Why did you leave me?" She asked, feeling stupid for even having to ask that question.

"Sorry, Love, I just…I thought I wasn't running fast enough." He replied as the elevators opened for them.

Stu gave her some cloths to wear and she went into the bathroom to change while he changed in the room. He had just finished getting dressed himself when the bathroom door opened slightly.

The fact that Petula was there at all meant something to Stu. There she was looking uncomfortable. Her legs were more bare than they had been in her jogging shorts because she was wearing a pair of his boxers. And the tank top was something left over when Alicia Fox was still his girlfriend. The top was too small against Petula's larger torso frame and the tops of her breasts were poking over the collar of the top.

The sight of her just made his mouth water.

"I'm still fat." She looked down at her stomach and ran her hand over the front of her.

"You're beautiful, Pet. You are absolutely gorgeous." Stu, in just his own boxers, approached her, hands reaching for her hips. "Inside and out, you're everything I want in a woman."

Was she, she wondered as she allowed Stu to kiss her. Bringing her hand up to graze his face and neck as he nibbled on her lower lip for more access. Stu's fingers dug into the flesh of her hips, not painfully but it allowed Petula to realize what Stu wanted.

She may not have any relationship experience but she understood and heard of non-verbal cues to love making. He was making it loud and clear.

Petula pulled back, making Stu stop his assault on her mouth. "I'm not ready." She said.

"For what?" Stu asked coyly, swaying with her hips still pressed into his body.

"Sex, I'm not ready for sex. Stu, I'm not sure about this. I like you but we haven't been together long enough for me to be comfortable with that idea."

All swaying stopped. " I see." He sounded hurt but she wasn't sure.

"And I have to be up early to get to the LA stage set up. Fiona will be expecting me at the bus early tomorrow."

Damn it all to bloody hell, this night was ruined.

"Okay, Pet. Let's get some sleep and I'll wake you early so that you can get ready to go." He relented, stepping back from her. "But you have to do something for me in return, Love."

"What?" She looked at him with mixed of curiosity and fear.

"I want to hold you in my arms tonight." He stepped back further as he took one of her hands in his.

Petula watched as Stu pulled back the covers with his other hand, all without breaking eye contact with her. He only let her hand go so that he could climb into bed first before holding one hand out to her.

"Come to bed, Love." His voice rumbled.

She had slept in Stu's room before but it had been in the second bed. So with a sigh, she climbed in next to him. Petula tried to get comfortable while Stu turned off the bed side lamp, the one light that had lit the room earlier. Then Stu turned over on his side and pressed his forehead against the top of Petula's head.

"Are you okay, Pet?" He asked, his breath brushing the back of her neck slightly.

"I've never done this before. No one has ever held me in my sleep before. I mean Dad would if I had a nightmare when I was younger. But not like this."

"Is it okay for you?"

"I guess."

"Relax, I'm not going to do anything to you, Pet. That's the last thing I wasn't to do, that's to scare you away."

She was scared but she tried to ease herself and calm down and let Stu hold her. Her head was now tucked up under his chin, his arm draped over her waist and his knees pressed up behind her knees. It was like she was sitting on his lap. This felt strange to Petula, she'd never been this situation before. Petula never had this thing happen, she never slept in the same bed as anyone else. Her person space was being invaded it felt like to her.

"I don't feel comfortable." She said, moving away from him.

"Sure you are, Pet. Just come back here and," he tried to pull her back towards him but she kept pulling back.

"No, Stu." She pushed his hand away from her. "You don't understand. I don't feel comfortable sharing the same bed as you. You have to understand, I'm not normal, I have person space issues. It takes me longer to get used to new things. Things like this. It took me weeks just to hug you, remember?" She tried to explain to him.

Bud did he understand? Petula wasn't sure if Stu was mad, sad or both at this moment. When he didn't respond, still staring at her, Petula felt dread. Was Stu even capable of understanding her? He seemed to care, to accept that she was autistic. But now, he seemed to be having a battle with himself in his head.

"If you say so, Petula." He sighed.

There was that name again.

Luckily, Stu had a second bed in his hotel room. Petula climbed into it and watched in the dark as Stu turned his back towards her.

It felt like she was being rejected all over again.

Would this relationship last?

* * *

**I'm still having computer issues. Publishing anything takes a couple of days now. And this chapter seemed to be a bit off for me. I'm not sure why either. So what do all of you think? Reviews are happily accepted. That's how I get my ideas anyway.**


	25. Chapter 25

The next morning Petula was up before Stu. Her sleep was restless at best and she couldn't tell why. It's not like she had a grasp of remembering her dreams, if she had any that is. She was packing up her things, quietly because she didn't want to wake up the slumbering Englishman.

Stu was sleeping on his back, his right arm over his head and his hand resting on his exposed stomach. The blanket rested down around his waist, draping over his well toned legs. Petula had to take a moment and look at him while he was sleeping, wondering. There were questions and options running through her head, possibilities she was scared about. Could he just walk away and leave her just because of her odd tendencies? She spied the slightly wet notebook and pen he had given her before the jog the night before. Maybe she would be better off just focusing all her attention on robots. It was less stressful than just trying to understand a man's intentions.

Shaking her head, she went back to packing for the trip to the Summerslam stage. Maybe time away would be good for her. She knew that she had things to think about.

As Stu's cell phone started ringing, his way of an alarm clock while on the road, he reached over and slapped at his phone. As he rubbed his eyes he noticed that Petula was already up and ready to leave, a head of time.

"Morning, Love."

"Morning, Stu." She glanced up from the notebook she was writing in. "I have to leave in ten minutes so I can be out at the Motel 6 where the staff is staying at."

"Bloody hell, I'm running late this morning aren't I?"

"I called Jon." She responded turning back to the notebook. "He said he would take me since he and Colby were already up and doing a morning run. You don't have to worry about making me late."

"Petula." She looked at Stu when he used her real name. "I really don't think you should be hanging around with Jon." He said as he slipped on a pair of his jeans.

"Not this again, Stu. Look, I don't know what your issue is with him, but please, please, just drop it. I am not going to cheat on you if you think that is what will happen." She dropped her pen on the table. "He is my friend, first and foremost. I should be allowed to have a few of those. It seems like you just want me to yourself."

"I…" Stu stopped because there was a knock on the door. "I just don't want you getting played, that's all."

"Jon hasn't done anything that would be called playing. He makes sure that I'm okay, he makes sure that I am not under stress from anyone else." Petula walked to the door and opened it.

There was Jon, keys to his shared rental with Colby and Joe in his hands, and a smirk lighting his face. "Ready, Tula?" He asked.

"Yeah, Jon. I am. Let me get my stuff and let me say goodbye to Stu." She said turning away from the door.

Jon purposefully looked away as Petula walked up to Stu, he cringed when he heard them kiss. He wanted to punch Stu when he heard the man groan. It added to the stress of those dreams he's been having over the woman feet from him. In no time flat, he was sure he would snap and do something rash that would get him in a fist fight with the English Asshole, and risk loosing Petula forever.

"I'll see you in LA, Stu." Jon looked up when Petula spoke. "I want to do something, with the both of you if your schedules aren't too busy. Don't ask what, I haven't figured it out yet." She reached down and picked up her backpack and then took the handle of her suitcase. "Come on, Jon. I need to get to the motel and fast."

Jon and Stu shared a look, a look that wasn't so good but Petula hadn't noticed. Jon closed the door behind the shorter woman and he felt good to know that at least he would see her before she left.

* * *

Fiona watched her younger friend, who was sitting at the bus's kitchenette table surrounded by more papers. After Jon dropped her off, and after putting her stuff away, this was where Petula had parked herself. Papers, lined and unlined, had started growing around her as the hours ticked by on this boring bus ride. The other five staff members were well aware and understood by now what kind of person Petula was. They all know enough about her to know she got like this when something was bothering her.

"Robots again, sweetie?" Fiona asked.

"They don't talk back." Petula responded simply. "The are what I know and understand. I get to play master and commander of them. I have the choice as to what they will be."'

"What happened last night, sweetie? Last I saw you were okay, you were actually smiling. What changed that?" Fiona asked as she came to stand in front of the table, looking at the various sketches and drawings.

"Stu wanted sex with me."

The older woman rolled her eyes. "Tell me something I don't know. That's not what I meant when I said that." She had to stop Petula before the woman could say anything. "What I meant was that men only think of one thing, sex. So, did you go through with it?"

"No. Stu, he well he seemed okay with me not wanting sex but when I didn't feel comfortable with even sleeping in the same bed as him, he seemed angry. He seemed more angry when I tried to explain to him that I didn't know him, not enough to go through with it. And that I was used to sleeping in my own bed. I don't know him, not like I thought I did."

"Then dump his British ass." Petula looked at Fiona. "Come on, sweetie. If he doesn't accept and understand you and your minor set backs, he's not worth it. What does Jon think?"

"Think about what?"

"Think about you and Stu being together."

"He says he's okay with it."

"Then he's not really okay with it. Let me point out something to you, Petula. Who walked away when you told him you were autistic?"

"Stu."

"And who was it that got pissed when he caught you kissing Drew, even though it was an attempt at making you look bad?"

"Stu."

"And who was trying to stop you from being Jon's friend." Fiona smiled at her friend's shocked face. "Yeah, I was within ear shot of that one. And in my book, three strikes and he's out of the picture."

"If he says or does anything about Jon then I'll call it quits in this relationship. But, in LA, in my hometown, I want to do something with both Jon and Stu, just the two of us.

"And what would that be?"

Petula told her friend exactly what she wanted to do.

* * *

**Yes, I know, really short but there is a reason for it. The pacing and the scenes I've had to hand write out fit better with the suspense that I have going on. So, please bear with me. In the mean time I hope you enjoyed this installment. **


	26. Chapter 26

Los Angles in the summer is hot and humid and sticky. To Stu, it was like he hadn't left Florida at all. But spending some time with his girlfriend would make him forget about this forsaken hot weather.

"What do you think she want to show us?" Jon asked from his seat in Petula's living room.

Then there was that.

During a gap in Jon's schedule, the day of the big Pay-per-view, Petula invited both Jon and Stu to her apartment for something she'd planned. The area she lived in was a middle class neighborhood, which was far better looking than the trashy Cincinnati neighborhood Jon grew up in. Even Stu was impressed by the area and the apartment Petula lived in.

The front room was the focal point in the apartment, with a doorway to the kitchen and a hallway to the two bedrooms. The living room had an old world charm to it, from the wooden tables, the brown leather chairs, one of which Jon was sitting in, and an antique roll top desk set up in the corner. That desk reminded Stu of the old detective movies he'd seen over the years. Laying on the desk was a police cap and a business jacket draped over the most uncomfortable looking wooden desk chair. Just like in the movies.

It was the robots and robotic artwork on the walls that gave the apartment a more modern look. It was a balance of the old and new that made it appear welcoming. Along with the pictures of Ben and Petula together, or the pictures of Petula with various awards and accomplishments that made the place look like a home.

From down the hall, Petula came out of her bedroom wearing an outfit that felt comfortable to her. In the weeks that she had been working out, some of her old cloths were becoming more slack on her. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts that were fraying at the ends, and a retro looking baby tee with a the classic image of a boxy robot on the front. For the first time they could see her feet because she was wearing flip-flops. Petula looked good, really good to both men. Good enough to kiss and that was what Stu did.

Right in front of Jon, Stu kissed Petula.

Again.

"What did you want to show us, Tula?" Jon asked once the two parted.

She looked at him as she stepped away from Stu slightly. "I want you to meet my dad." She glance at both men, uncertain about their reactions. "I haven't been back to his grave, not since his burial." Petula said as she played with her fingertips slightly.

"Well, I'm in." Jon stood up from the leather seat. "But we have to hurry. I have a radio interview to do in about an hour and then I have to get to the show afterwards."

Then it was settled.

Ten minutes later, the two men and the short woman were in a graveyard a few miles away from Petula's apartment. In the heat, they stood in front of a white washed gravestone. None of them brought flowers, except Petula had a flask in her hands. Stu noticed it was an antique flask, a style he knew that came from England. It was silver with ornate ivy and grapes on the outside. Petula opened the flask and poured some of the contents on the soil in front of Ben Clarke's gravestone.

"Brandy, my dad's favorite drink. He hated flowers."

"Why?" Stu asked as he place a hand on her lower back.

"I don't really know why. Once, when I was five, I picked a handful of flowers and gave them to him. He said thanks but asked me not to do it again."

"Why?" Jon asked.

"Only women should get flowers." Petula responded as she stared only at the stone in front of her.

So Stu decided that this was a good time to get to know his Pet a little more. "How was growing up with a cop for you, Love?"

"He didn't make detective until I was ten. But he came to all my awards and stuff like that. I had baby sitters, yes, but I never hated Dad for doing his job. He said helping people was the reason why he became a police officer, in England and in America."

Jon could tell Petula was proud of her father. He also knew that Ben Clarke was the only support in her life until he died. She had no other family that she knew of. She needed someone and Jon intended to do that, support her in anyway possible.

"I say the man deserves an honorary smoke." Jon declared. "Let's raise our cigarettes and his flask in his name." Jon took the flask from Petula, handed it to Stu before pulling a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket.

It was a strange thing to see. A man and a woman sharing a cigarette while the third man took a swig from the flask.

"This is to Ben Clarke, for raising a beautiful daughter and an amazing woman." Jon said holding the cigarette out in a salute.

"To Ben Clarke, father and a true English gentleman. Thank you for not giving up on Petula. She is a wonderful friend and girlfriend to us." Stu said, holding the flask in salute before taking a drink from it.

"Thank you, Daddy, for raising me and loving me. With these two men, Jon Good and Stu Bennett, I'm in good hands. I love you, Daddy." Petula said, bowing her head at the stone.

There, it needed to be said.

It sounded like someone was walking towards the three of them. Petula had taken a drag off the cigarette and handed it back to Jon before looking over her shoulder. She found a woman standing about ten feet away from her father's gravesite. The woman was with an older man, someone about her Dad's age, and another woman. This woman looked to be about Petula's age or maybe a little bit younger. The older woman looked vaguely familiar and she looked to be shocked to see that Petula was there as well.

Jon looked over his shoulder at where Petula was looking. "Can we help you?" He asked the three people there.

"Are you Petula Clarke?" The older woman asked, looking at the brunette woman.

"Yes, ma'am, I am. Who are you?"

"I'm Virginia Stapleton, this my husband Jake and our daughter Tabitha. I, we, came to see Ben's grave, out of respect." The woman was fidgety, worried.

"How do you know my father? I didn't see you at his funeral."

"I only found out recently of his passing. I thought, I should come and say my peace to his spirit."

The man sighed, aggravated somewhat. "Virginia is Ben's ex-wife."

That's when it clicked for the three people.

Virginia Stapleton was Petula's mother.

The mother that abandoned her when she was two years old.

* * *

**Ah yes, another short chapter. But I'm getting to the point where the entire story was sluggish, at least to me. How do you think the next chapter should go? **


	27. Chapter 27

Fan-bloody-tastic, the thought ran through Stu's head. Just fantastic. With a glance at Jon, though they were at odds over Petula at the moment, Stu could see how the man was handling the situation.

Not well enough.

"You left me." Petula's voice quivered with this notion, looking at Virginia.

"I-I-I-I don't know what to say, Petula. There's been things that…I don't know how to explain it." The woman said.

"Jon, Stu, take me home, please. I don't want to be here." Petula didn't want to really look at the woman.

"Gladly, Love." Stu nodded.

Jon didn't say anything. He led the way, making sure Petula was right behind him. Stu held Petula's hand as he place himself between her and the three strangers.

"Petula, please, don't you want answers?" Virginia asked, well begged.

"You made it loud and clear twenty-five years ago." Jon stated, jabbing at the distressed woman with his words.

"I was twenty, I couldn't handle having a child with a disability." Tears rolled down Virginia's face, pieces of her dark brown hair sticking with them.

"Does it look like I have a disability?" Petula's voice rose, anger and hurt topling over the brim of her wounded heart. "I have friends. I am in a relationship now, I have a job. I am not disabled!"

"Easy, Love. Easy. Calm down." Stu pulled her back to his side. "Come on, Jon needs to get to his interview?"

"A job interview?" Jake almost laughed, looking at the cloths Jon was wearing.

Jeans and a tee shirt, his hair was slightly messy and he had on a pair of his boots that he liked to wear. This was his apparel outside of the ring. A fact that he didn't give a crap about what people thought of him.

But apparently Petula took that as an insult. The jab didn't piss of Jon as much as it did her.

"Do you know who you're talking to? This is Dean Ambrose of the acclaimed WWE, the company I work for. And you want to know what I have as accomplishments? I have a masters in robotics from UCLA. I am also an electrical engineer." Petula couldn't contain her anger, her rage. "I've made something of myself with no help from a mother!"

"Come on, Petula!" Stu's yell rippled among the headstones in the graveyard. "Stop, stop it right now. We're leaving!"

And all discussion ended there. Jake, Virginia and Tabitha watched as Jon, Petula and Stu left the area.

"Great going, Dad." Stu heard Tabitha say before they were out of ear shot.

* * *

Jon had to reluctantly leave for his interview. He left after Petula kept telling him how sorry she was for screwing up again. She even hugged him, her cheek against his chest, over his heart, tears seeping into his shirt.

"It's not your fault, Tula." He had said. "Stu will stay with you until you have to be back at the arena tonight. Just calm down. I'm not mad at you."

And that's how he left, promising her everything was okay.

But it wasn't.

About twenty minutes after Jon had left, while Petula sat on the couch with her head on Stu's shoulder, there was a knock. Upon answering the door, Stu found a younger woman standing there.

It was Tabitha Stapleton.

"I want to talk to my sister, please." She said, looking him in the face.

Stu looked the blonde over. She looked a lot like that Jake bloke but he could see the same nose that Petula had. He could tell Tabitha was into fashion. Those were some pricey heels she was wearing. By any male judgment, Tabitha was a fine looking woman. Stu could admit that she was a delectable looking doll.

"Pet, Tabitha would like to talk to you." Stu looked back at his girlfriend.

"Where's Virginia?" Petula asked, standing up from the couch.

"Dad took her back to the hotel we're at. After you left, I followed you guys. In retrospect, it's sort of my fault that all of this happened."

"Come in. Do you want a drink?"

"A glass of wine if you have it."

"No, I don't like alcohol so I don't keep it. Sodas, juice or bottled water are you options."

"She's a bit blunt at times." Stu looked at Tabitha with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, then water will be fine. Thanks. I'm sorry Mom was a bit difficult today. And Dad can be a bit of an ass to people who don't look professional."

"Making fun of me or my friend isn't welcomed around here. I never had friends growing up, the only one I did have died. But the on that supported me was Dad, my dad."

"I can only imagine what you're going through. Mom never likes facing things, facing people that she is afraid of."

Petula got a bottle of water and handed it to Tabitha. "My father came to America for Mom. He left everything he had in England to follow the woman he loved. Then she up and leaves the moment I was diagnosed with autism."

"You're autistic?" Tabitha swept her eyes over Petula slightly. "I thought…" she was caught off from finishing the sentence.

"There are varying degrees of autism. Mine is called Asperger's."

"Ass burgers, ha!" Tabitha laughed.

"I wouldn't make fun." Stu warned, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. "You're already on thin ice."

"Oh sorry." Tabitha glanced at her water bottle as Petula went back into the front room. "So, are you like a geek or something?"

"Geek?" Petula whipped her head around.

"Sorry, again, wrong word. Look, my father is a distinguished lawyer, a District Attorney and he's rich. I went to a private school in New York. If anyone had any disabilities then they were sent somewhere else."

"Keeping the herds pure. Did you know Hitler had people euthanized because they were gays, lesbians, old, mentally handicapped, autistic, and others like that? It wasn't just the Jews persecuted."

"No, I-I didn't know that." Tabitha stammered.

"Why did you come here?" Stu finally spoke up.

"I found out about you like a couple of months ago. I know that you were two when mom filed for divorce from your dad. Then I looked up your dad's name and found out that he had died."

"A nasty brain tumor, not on the job."

"Right and I told mom. So I convinced Dad to come back to LA and let mom say her respects. I didn't mean for it to go the way it did."

"A nice cushy life, I bet that's why she didn't say anything. She didn't want to admit that she had a retarded daughter. Your life is simple." Petula said, going to stand in front of one of the pictures.

"Yeah, I guess it is. I'm a model, fashion model. I'm twenty-three if you want to know."

Stu prepared himself. This could get ugly fast.

"Not really, no." Petula answered honestly. "But thank you. I was around three or four when you were born."

"I think it was my dad's fault."

"Fault for what?" Petula and Stu chorused.

"Well, after mom and dad married they moved to New York, that's where I was born. But I think, it was about a year after your father was divorced from mom that she and my dad were married. But by then they had been together for like two years."

If Stu did his math right, Virginia was with Jake during her marriage to Ben.

"You mean Mom was having an affair?" Petula's voice rose an octave or three.

* * *

**I'm trying, I really am. So, what do all of you think?**


	28. Chapter 28

Petula sighed in frustration. This was just too darn annoying to deal with all at once. Her composure was starting to wane a little and angrily pulling her hair, Petula looked at Tabitha.

"Look, I have to get ready for work soon. Just leave your number and I'll give you mine in case you want me to talk to our mother. Or if she wants to talk to me at least."

She didn't have the courage to call her mother. Maybe they have more in common than she thought.

"Oh, okay. Um, yeah. Here's my phone, just put in your number and I'll put mine in yours."

Tabitha left shortly afterwards.

At least she was willing to talk to Virginia, Stu thought as he watched Petula pace in silence for a little while.

She had stopped to look at a picture of her and her father together. She was smiling awkwardly as Ben rested his head on top of hers, helping to hold up a ribbon for the person taking the picture to see. It was a first place prize for some sort of science fair project. And the project was, what else, a robot she had made.

"Love," Stu placed his hand on her hip, pulling her and her thoughts to him. "Are you okay?"

"Will I ever forgive her? Forgive Virginia, Mom, that woman?" She asked.

"I can't answer that for you, Pet. I mean twenty-five years is a long time to not even consider looking for her daughter. She may have a reason, she may not. I can't honestly say you will get over it, or not."

"But I've always want the answers from her. Did she ever love me? I shouldn't have yelled at her I wasn't even mad at her. It was that man she was with."

"Jon's a big boy. He wasn't affected by what that man said. But I think you made your point. We stand up for each other."

She hugged Stu, her arms around his lean middle. Stu wanted to do so much more with her but she just wasn't willing to go that far yet. He was in a bind and it was hard to control the lust he was feeling. It had been a long while since he'd been intimate with a woman and he was curious is Petula would just let herself go and let him have her.

Shaking those thoughts from his head, Stu looked down at her with a smile. "Come on, Love. You need to get ready for work." He said as he ran his fingers through her short hair. "Go splash some water on your face. Don't want your coworkers thinking that I made you cry."

She laughed as she wiped her tears away.

* * *

Stu was in a hall waiting for Petula to get done with her work. She was only at Summerslam because there was a shortage in the staff. Instead of just working her usually technician spot, she took on a runner, or gopher jog. Go for this, go for that and she hadn't been seen since he dropped her off earlier. Stu knew how busy pay-per-views could be. He knew that Petula also wanted to see Jon before she went home that night.

"Hi, Stu." He looked up from his text to Stephen. "What ya doing?"

"AJ, what a not so nice surprise. What do you want?" He asked.

"I'm just checking up on you. I mean dating someone like Petula can't be easy."

"Dating in general is never easy. What's your point and can you get to it?"

"I'm just saying, Petula isn't exactly your type. I didn't think you went for big girls."

"My choice of girlfriends isn't any of your concern."

"After what we had, you remember that night, don't you? Come on, you remember." She rubbed his arm, stepping closer to him.

How couldn't he? She was the last female he had slept with. And it was to get back at Alicia for cheating on him.

Stu took a deep breath through his nose, almost instantly regretting it. AJ's smell was intoxicating, as it was the same that it had been the night they shared together. His body was betraying his heart, it was craving something he hadn't had in several months.

AJ smiled as Stu placed his hand on hers. Slowly, Stu leaned down and press his lips to her temple softly. But then he move to her lips, lavishing in her strawberry lip gloss. She had been wearing the same gloss the last time they were together. His body ached for her, the only thing he was familiar with.

"No." A soft voice said from behind him and slightly to his left.

"Fuck." Phil added, standing next to Petula. "Oh fuck."

Petula thought he…why was he…was it her fault? That tightness in her throat burned it's way up to her eyes. Dropping the clipboard in her hand, it clanged almost too loudly for anyone in the hall to hear, and she took a few steps backwards as if she had been slapped. Fear and hurt were mixed on her face as she stared at Stu.

"You're just like her." Petula mustered out. "You cheated on me like Virginia did my Dad."  
"Huh, history does repeat itself. Sorry, honey, but he wants a real woman. No some retard like you."

"Speak up, Stu." Phil looked the Englishman over. "Defend yourself, defend Petula." When he didn't answer straight away, Phil growled slightly. "Damn it, Stu, you're throwing away a good woman."

"Pet…" Stu finally said.

"I'm not your Pet anymore. You walked away, you told me not to see Jon, even as a friend, and you got mad because I didn't want to have sex with you because I wasn't ready. Now you hurt me more because you betrayed me. Goodbye, Stu. Just…goodbye."

Stu didn't even attempt to go after her. Phil did, just to make sure that she was okay.

* * *

Mr. Sylvan felt sorry for the girl. Earlier Jon had filled him in on what was going on with Petula's life. The return of her mother and the drama at the graveyard, it was no wonder why she had agreed to come in for work. So when Phil told Sylvan what was going on with Petula and Stu, it was a wonder that she didn't walk out into traffic. Lve had to watch as she rocked back and forth in the chair, pulling at her hair and making some odd whimpering sounds. She was in a quiet room, he was there to watch her as Phil went to find Jon for him. If anyone could calm her down, them the demented Dean Ambrose guy could.

Jon Good was the answer.

"Take her home or keep her with you. I don't want her alone right now." Mr. Sylvan told Jon, but also Joe and Colby. "I'll keep her off tomorrow's show but we need her for Tuesday's tapings. And please, I swear to God, keep Stu away from her."

"Got it." Joe said.

She felt hands on her shoulders, stopping her. Petula thought that it was Stu and it pissed her off even more. She screamed at him as she fought him, trying to get him away from her. She yelled that he hurt her, he was a bastard anything and everything she was thinking came rushing out of her mouth, any and all hurtful things she could muster to tell the Englishman.

"Petula, it's me!" Jon's voice rose above her own. "It's Jon. I'm not Stu."

She slowed, not realizing it was him. Petula didn't see either Colby or Joe at the door with her boss, all still wearing their Shield outfits. The thoughts that ran through her head were bad words about herself. Those words screamed at her in her head, even while Jon was trying to talk to her. But these words were coming back in force.

Fat

Ugly

Stupid

Retarded

Even though she stared at him, Petula wasn't really looked at him. It was an odd calmness, either she was finished with her meltdown or one was going to happen soon. Jon didn't want the latter to happen.

"Too much," she finally said. "Too much." She grabbed at her ears, trying to shut out the words that were gnawing at her mind.

"I know it's too much." Jon smoothed her hair down from when she was pulling at it, as well as pushing her hands away from her head. "I can't imagine what you're going through, Petula. But believe me, you're not going to go through this alone. I'm right here. I'm right here for you."

She hoped so.

Petula need so much support just to get over the heartache that she had been through this day.

* * *

**Well there you go, another update. I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you think.**


	29. Chapter 29

Colby told Jon he would pick him and Petula up in the morning as he was dropping them off at Petula's apartment after the show that night. Joe was getting a ride with his cousins The Usos to the next town so that the car ride in the morning wouldn't be so packed. There was no way anyway that Jon was going to leave Petula alone. Not tonight at least. The four of them had left the arena even before the pay-per-view had even started. Phil made sure to calm the heat at the arena because he was sure that news would spread through the staff and talent of what happened with Stu and Petula.

Even though he had been to her apartment earlier in the day, it was just Jon and Petula now. Just them and no one else. But he had to make sure Petula was okay. He knew she could do self harm to herself even without realizing it. She wasn't suicidal, but painfully pulling her hair seemed to calm her down.

Putting his feelings on the back burner, Jon found some food in the kitchen. He found some cereal and milk that hadn't gone bad yet. Better than nothing, he thought pouring a bowl for Petula.

She was sitting quietly on the couch, hadn't really said anything since they left the arena. It was like she gave up. It almost looked like she had.

"Here." Jon held the bowl out to her.

"I'm not hungry."

"Eat it, Petula, then go to bed. That's an order." His voice was stern, it had dipped as well.

She looked at his face then at the bowl. Then she took the bowl and the spoon that was held out to her. Jon eased back when she began eating and then he settled into the nearby chair, watching the distressed woman like a hawk.

"That's Dad's chair." She said after half of the bowl was eaten. "He liked reading Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books in that chair. He liked Sherlock Holmes the best."

"Eat, Petula. I'm not going to tell you again." Jon crossed his feet at his ankles while leaning back in the chair. "Eat and then go to bed."

"Eat and go to bed. Eat and go to bed." She repeated quietly, another nervous habit she had Jon noticed. At least she went back to eating.

How could he deal with this if he had her for himself? How could he deal with having an eccentric girlfriend like Petula? For one thing, he wouldn't have crawled into the arms of a bitch that was rude and cruel to Petula. Petula was not a perfect woman, that's what drew him to her. There were other 'perfect' women out there, he was around them all day but none of them appealed to him, not like this woman had. These 'perfect' women he worked with were constantly worried about their looks, having the best cloths, enhancing their bodies to be perfect. But Petula wasn't like that and that was what drew Jon to her.

Even though she had been loosing weight and she looked good, Jon fell for her before her looks. She cared about his feelings, worried that she would hurt them. But she never did. She was a valued friend to him. He didn't want to ruin that.

When Petula finished her bowl of cereal, she let Jon take the bowl. Without saying a word, she went to her room and closed the door behind her. Jon sighed and went to clean the bowl before getting himself ready for sleep on the couch.

Petula woke up early the next morning, around four or so to use the bathroom. Then as she was going to the kitchen for a drink, she noticed Jon on the couch asleep. He didn't have a pillow, he was using his arm for that but he also didn't have a blanket. So giving up on the drink, Petula went to her hall closet and pulled out a spare blanket.

Jon stirred slightly as Petula draped the blanket over him. He cracked his eyes as he felt her hands tucking the blanket around his body, cocooning him in warmth. It was nice to see her fuss over him and him alone. It was pretty damn good.

"Thank you, Tula." He sighed as he snuggled into a better sleeping position and closing his eyes.

Only they popped open when she kissed head forehead. Well that was a surprise. But he didn't say anything as she went to the kitchen. Petula got her drink and went back to bed. Jon easily went back to sleep after Petula had tucked him in.

* * *

"Dad always tucked me in if I fell asleep without a blanket. He'd kiss my head to get me to go back to sleep as well." She said as she was writing in a notebook.

Colby looked at Jon, who had some goofy smirk on his face. He was sitting quietly in the passenger seat looking happier than he usually did. Well something good came out of last night's sleep over but Colby wasn't sure what it was. Phil had repeated what Petula told Stu before she walked away from the relationship. Though she was really quiet since Colby picked her and Jon up that morning, she looked relatively okay.

Petula was in Colby's rental as he, her and Jon were heading to Oakland for Monday Night Raw. She would be in The Shield's locker room while they were out performing but she said she wanted to go do something before the show. What it was, neither man were sure but Petula had something on her mind.

With a list of thing on her, and a sketch of her plan, Petula left Jon at the arena. He didn't know where was she going but if she wasn't with Stu then Jon wasn't worried. She was going to get over this and she was going to do it in her own way.

A visit to a hardware store was her type of vacation. It took her mind away from being betrayed by someone like Stu. She wanted to do something for Jon, because he had stayed with her through just about everything. He was her constant one. She may have lost her father but she gained Jon in the end.

"Do you need help?" The store clerk asked as she was looking at some small metal plates.

"I'm trying to make a robot for a friend, a spy-bot. It had to be small, like a tarantula size."

"Tarantulas are big."

"That depends on who you're asking." Petula didn't even look at him, still trying to select her things wisely. "They have eight eyes and I'll need two micro cameras."

The man groaned, rubbing his balding head. She made no sense, at least to him.

"Look, you won't find what you need here."

"That's up for debate. Let me decide if I can or can't do anything."

She wasn't going to let some stranger ruin her special time. Sure she didn't find a lot of what she needed but there would be other things she would get later. Petula had to plan this in stages. She got the parts for the shell of the robot but she was going to have to be creative with finding the rest of what she needed.

* * *

"Hello." She picked up her phone.

She'd just gotten back to the arena. Petula was in The Shield's locker room trying to work on creating the outer shell of the robot spider body.

"Hey Petula, this is Chris Irvine. I wanted to let you know they gave Robot Combat League another season. I'm calling to see if you're interested in working with me again."

"Um…"

This was going to be hard for her.

What was she going to do? She had about two weeks to decide and come up with an answer for Chris. Sure she just lost her relationship with Stu, but she didn't want to loose Jon. She didn't want to loose any of her friends either.

Petula knew that working for CRL was what she really loved. Robots were her number one passion. But she was learning to love more than just her dad and robots. She was learning to love others as well.

Really, what was she going to do?

* * *

**Well another one. Honestly I'm on the fence about this update. I'm not sure if I made sense at one point in the story. What do you think?**


	30. Chapter 30

Petula decided she was going to deal with her emotions over the break up with Stu first. It felt like there was a tower building up on top of her shoulders and it was going to fall down at any moment. Her mother shows up at her dead father's grave with a husband and a daughter that were both perfect to her. She finds Stu kissing a woman he had previously slept with and now she was being offered a job of her dreams.

The only issue was Jon.

How would he react? How would any of her friends react?

It already was Friday and she wasn't on the clock to work the house show The Shield was performing at. This gave her some time to work on the robot she was creating for Jon.

"Hi." A woman brought Petula's attention away from the robot that was in front of her. "Um, I'm Jimmy Uso's fiancé Trinity McCray. I just thought you might like some help with whatever you're doing."

The table had all sorts of little thing on it. The shell of the spider was almost complete, Petula just needed to find the suitable wire for the body to stand up on at this point. She was starting on the circuit board she found in a broken toy car, trying to fit the transceiver into the shell of the spider. It was tedious work but it was work that she loved to do.

"What are you doing?" The Totally Divas star asked.

"I'm making a spy robot. It's a gift for someone."

"Who?"

Petula scratched her head, staring at the piece of electronics in her hand. "It's for Jon Good. It's a thank you for helping me out so much."

"Oh."

Sighing, the tech put down her project. "What are people saying about me?" She suddenly asked.

"Um."

"Are they calling me a slut for the Drew incident? Did they think I was messing around with Stu?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"I'm asking because you're being weird towards me. It's like you're forcing yourself to talk to me."

There was an odd silence between the two women.

"Sorry. I'll just leave you alone." Trinity then walked, or fast walked away, back towards her friends a little ways down the hall.

Petula groaned, realizing she had just scared away yet another friend. Trinity may not have been involved in the Stu/Drew/AJ fiascos but making friends had always been an issue for her. But figuring out what was the right thing to say and when to say them was just as hard. Jon made it easy for her. He always made sure Petula was okay, but she had overheard some stuff from Colby about what the fans were saying about her. And not all of it was good. Some were down right terrible.

"Are you okay, Sugar?" Phil asked as he approached her.

"I feel like I'm falling." She responded as she began cleaning up her stuff.

Putting pieces and parts into little plastic baggies, organizing each part and piece to her specific organization skill, she put screw with screws and things of that nature together. This was another thing. Every piece had to be in a specific place or it would feel like she was out of order. It had to be where she put them otherwise it would be like a mess.

"Is Jon, Joe and Colby finished with their match yet?"

"Yeah, they're changing now." Phil sat down in the other chair at the table. "Have you heard from Stephen?"

Stephen had been out of action due to a shoulder injury. Of the three European friends, Stephen had become a great friend towards the younger woman. She looked to him for advice concerning Stu, and it was a shock to her when she learned that Stu and Drew were still friends, even after all the stuff that had gone on between the Scotsman and Petula. Stephen was keeping a close eye on his friends, unlike them, he had Petula's best interest at heart and she valued that. Stephen was one of the few good guys that she was around nowadays.

"He called, yes." She said as her focus was on what she was doing with the pieces and baggies. "He told me he wouldn't be around for six months or so, depending on how his shoulder recovery would take."

Phil was going to let her choose the direction of the conversation. He knew she had trouble maintaining a simple conversation, especially when she was under stress. Phil would wait as long as he had to until she was comfortable.

"Did you know that the military made a humming bird drone? It flies just like a real humming bird."

"Is that why you're working on this?"

"It's for Jon. I'm not sure if he will like it though."

"I'm sure he will." Phil smiled slightly. "Why not just get him a card?"

She shrugged. "Jon doesn't seem to be a card type of person. And I wouldn't know what to say, I usually don't. And besides, I know how to make robots. I appreciate Chris Jericho helping me get this job but," she stopped herself, getting choked up over the thought of loosing Jon.

"Petula, look at me." Phil said, tapping her knee slightly. "What's going on? Why are you upset?"

"Chris called me Tuesday. They are doing another season of Robot Combat League. He asked me to work with them this season again."

"That's great, Petula. But why do you look like someone killed your cat?"

"That's a metaphor, right?" She shook her head, going back to the topic. "I would have to quit this job."

"Have you talked to Sylvan about it?"

"No. I just thought…"

"Well talk to him first. Maybe you can get your job back afterwards. You need to think about what's bothering you. Keeping it bottled up inside is not a good thing, Sugar. You can talk to Sylvan and you should talk to Jon about it. Do you want my opinion?"

"Do I have a choice?" Petula asked while she was putting the baggies of parts and pieces into her backpack.

"If it's agreed that you can come back here for work, after the Robot thing, then it will be a vacation for you. Do give me that look, little girl. Listen. You have not been relaxed in a long time. Come to think about it, you haven't been all that happy either. Maybe some time away will help. And robots are you passion, just like wrestling is mine. You need to do what you love to do."

"Dad used to tell me the same thing." A tear slipped down her cheek. "But it's Jon."

"What about him?"

"I'll miss him. He's the best thing to happen to me since Dad died. He makes me feel happy, feel safe. I don't know what to do."

Phil sighed. He understood about centered focus with people who have autism. Petula was no different. She had an obsession about Jon, not really in a romantic sense but because she valued friendships. In Phil's eyes, maybe some time away from the WWE would be a good thing for her.

"Hey, Phil. Keeping my girl company?" Jon asked as he approached with his bags in tow.

Petula twisted around to look at him, joe and Colby. All were waiting for her and she still hadn't gotten her stuff gathered together and into her backpack yet. She just couldn't get anything straight at that point.

"Yep. I haven't seen her in a few days. It's not fair that you three get to hog her all the time, Mach Truck." Phil smirked.

"Mach Truck?" Joe asked when seeing the glare Jon was giving Phil.

The glare turned into a grin and finally Jon laughed slightly. "Suppose you're right about that. Wanna travel with Phil to Monday's stage, Tula?"

"Um…" she was cut off by Phil.

"Sorry, I'm booked solid. She'd get bored following me to interviews and a WWE Magazine photo shoot. So she's all yours." Phil stood up.

"Well since we don't leave until tomorrow, how about we gout for something fun to do?" Colby suggested.

"Sure, I like that idea." Petula said as she packed away the rest of her robotic supplies.

* * *

Joe was behind Petula and Jon was in front of her. She lost sight of Colby five minutes prior. Not that she was paying him any attention anyway. All she could feel was the ache in her legs, the burn in her lungs and her heart slamming against her ribcage. She fought for control of her body but Jon easily muscled her out of dominance, making her keep his pace.

It didn't help when it felt like Joe was breathing down her neck.

"Can we stop?" Petula huffed.

"Just a little bit more." Joe grunted.

"Yeah, need you there with us, Babe." Jon added, his own breathing hitched slightly.

Petule whined but kept at it, trying to keep the rhythm she had set at the beginning of this. Not like she had a choice in the matter.

Colby had finished before the three of them. He stood around waiting for his friends to hurry up and finish so they could get to bed. They've been at this for a while now, trying to get Petula in shape, opening her up to more activities than she's used to.

When Jon stopped, Petula ran right into his back. Because Jon had stopped so suddenly, Joe ended up crashing into Petula's back, pinning her between two hard muscled bodies. Once she had untangled herself from Jon and Joe, Petula looked at where Jon was glaring.

Stu Bennett stood at the entrance to the hotel. He had been waiting for them.

Colby came back to stand next to Jon, Joe came to stand next to Petula, maybe to prevent Stu from approaching, but Jon had that under control.

"What do you want?" Jon asked, both fists clenching at his sides.

"I wanted to talk to Petula." He said, his gazed focused solely on the shorter woman. "Please, Love, I need to explain myself."

"It was obvious what you wanted, Stu. You wanted something I wasn't willing to give up. Even when I tried to explain why you got mad." She shook, her voice and her tired body shook as well. "I felt like I wasn't good enough, to you or to anyone really. And you didn't stop her from calling me those names." Her shaky voice rose slightly.

"Come on, let's go." Joe, the calm one at the moment, said placing a hand on Petula's shoulder. "We leave in the morning, Jon. And no fighting, we can't afford a suspension right now."

"Pet, please. Just hear me out." Stu took two steps towards her, only to get Jon in his way. "Mate, this is between me and her."

"She is my business, Mate." Jon countered. "I've been there for her, understood her needs, her issues. All you want was a place to put your dick. So back off and go join your buddy over there."

Jon was talking about Drew, who was standing off in the shadows of the hotel watching them. No emotion, none whatsoever. He just watched with his hands jammed into his jean pockets.

"One way or another, I'm getting you back with me, Petula Clarke. He will just break your hear like the rest of the rats he's been sleeping with." Stu told the woman.

Colby reacted fast, grabbing onto Jon before he could launch himself at Stu. Petula stood so rigid, like a board as Stu walked back to his friend. She wasn't sure but did Stu just threaten her?

"Come on, Man. You're going to scare her." Colby's voice strained as Jon fought against his friend's grip.

At that point Petula knew what she had to do.

She made up her mind.

"Jon, when we get back to your hotel room we need to talk about something."

The sound of her voice made Jon stop fighting. The tone of all serious scared him slightly as well.

What did she want to talk about?

* * *

**I am pretty happy about this update. I hope you did as well.**


	31. Chapter 31

In the hotel room Petula paced, twisting her wrists as she did so. The craving for a cigarette called to her. Jon hadn't returned from getting food yet and she was worried.

Her bare feet plodded across the carpeted floor. Back and forth, forth and back, she worried her fingers and occasionally she'd pull at her hair. And all the while Joe watched her.

He'd accepted to stay with Petula while Jon and Colby went out to get food. After the Stu confrontation, Jon told Petula that they would talk during dinner. Subway was the choice for the four of them and Joe didn't really feel like going out. So he was reclining back in one of the two beds watching Petula with interest.

"Chris Jericho offered me a job with Robot Combat League." Petula had stopped pacing and was now looking out the window. "I want to take the job."

"Would you come back to the WWE afterwards?"

"I don't know. I'd have to talk to Mr. Sylvan about it. I will if I can get my job back here again."

"Didn't you say you worked with that show before you got a job here?"

"Yeah. Chris helped me," Petula stopped when her phone went off. "Hold on, please. Let me answer this."

Joe could see Petula was close to breaking. Whoever was on the other side of that call nearly made Petula yank her hair out. That Zippo lighter of hers came into play when she pulled it out of her pocket and started opening and closing it. Shnicking and clicking was an almost rhythmic tune, but a fast and furious one. She was getting agitated by someone and Joe thought it was Stu again.

Joe sat up as Petula said good bye to the other person. "Who was that, Petula? Was it Stu?"

"It was my sister. She's in LA doing a movie of some sort. She wanted to know if we could get together." She kept flicking the lighter. "The last time was bad enough. She's a dunce."

"Ah, you mentioned her. She can't be that bad."

The schnicking stopped. "I guess you're right. But finding out I have a sister isn't want I had anticipated. And I don't really care for her dad."

"Because of the affair with your mom," asked Joe.

"No, it's because he insulted my friend. He looked down on Jon because he isn't a suit and tie kind of guy. To that man, everything has to be perfect. And apparently I am none of that."

"Okay, stop with the self bashing, Petula. And Jon would say the same thing if he ever heard you say that."

Luckily for Joe's sanity, Colby and Jon showed up shortly afterwards with their Subway dinner.

Their dinner was quiet. Petula enjoyed it that way, it gave her time to think of what she was going to say to Jon and Colby about leaving. She valued her friendship with them over a lot of other things but robots were her thing; she understood them better than she did people or the human nature. This explained why she was confused about her recent relationship with Stu.

"What did you want to talk about, Tula?" Jon asked as he crumbled up his trash.

"Jericho offered me a job with the returning Robot Combat League season."

"Yeah?" Jon actually smiled. "That's great, Babe. You're going to take it, right?"

"I want to, yes. But what about this job with the WWE?"

Jon took her hand as he knelt in front of her, making her look down at him. He was less intimidating this way. He still had a smile on his handsome face.

"This is what you enjoy most, robots are your passion and you're so damn good at it. You need to do what makes you happy."

"You make me happy, Jon." Her thumb rubbed over his knuckles.

"If you think you're loosing me or any of us because of this, you're wrong." He rubbed her knee as he kept smiling at her. "The fact is, Babe, you should worry about what I will think. I support you in everything you pursue."

She brought her hand up, lightly running her fingers over his soft hair. When Jon didn't complain, she felt better. His touches were always accepted and he gave her free range to explore the boundaries of her limits.

"I want to take it. I want to take the job."

"Then do it, Petula. I'm not going to stop you."

Joe and Colby glanced at each other. Would it be simple on their friend? Would Jon be able to function without Petula being around? Would he go back to his old ways, his self destructive ways? He changed for Petula, but he started changing for himself as well.

Would it last?

* * *

Sylvan agreed. Fiona nearly cried and some of the other staff congratulated her.

Petula would have a job with the WWE when she returned from working with RCL with Chris Jericho in LA, her hometown. And Petula's coworkers decided to have a get together to have a See You Soon party.

Jon was there with Petula at the diner where the staff gathered for this occasion. Sylvan was there as well.

"I'm so proud of you, Petula. I know you're going to have a great time." He said as Jon sat next to her with his hand on her knee.

"Thank you." She smiled, fidgety.

With so many people around she was not used to it. But with Jon there it was a little bit tolerable.

After they had finished eating, and a small cake consumed, Fiona declared it was time for the gifts.

"Gifts, what gifts?" Petula asked as Kent, Fiona's husband, placed a few wrapped boxes on the table.

"Just open them. You'll be surprised what you got."

She did and what she got was something confusing. "A PS3 console," then she held up the game she was given with it. "What's Skyrim?"

"You never played video games?" Connie, a wardrobe assistant, snickered. She stopped when Sylvan glared at her.

"I always had other things on my mind. I don't…thank you. But why this game?"

"I think so you can be someone else for a while." Jon said. "RPGs allow you to create your own characters and be in a fantasy world, at least for a little while."

"And it will get your mind off of things for a while." Fiona added. "But I got you something else." She handed Petula a small box.

Jon saw the smile spread out over Petula's face. In the box was a necklace with a robot pendant with diamonds for eyes. This was totally Petula, her style since it was a classic robot look.

"Thank you, Fiona. I'm going to wear it with my Dad's St. Michael pendant." Petula told her friend. "Jon, can you help me put this on?" She turned her back towards him.

After dinner it just Jon and Petula. With gifts in tow, they were on their way back to Jon's hotel room. Jon and Petula would drive from Las Vegas to LA together before Jon had to be at the next Raw show. Joe and Colby were already headed out there, giving their friends some alone time together.

"Why would they give me and entire game system?" Petula asked, looking at the PS3 box sitting next to their bags.

She and Jon were on one bed. Jon was laying there, she was sitting down cross legged playing with comforter below her. They'd been quiet for a while since the returned to the hotel. And the fact remained that bugged her, receiving a video game system.

"Maybe they thought you could try something new. It's not going to bite you, Babe." Jon replied from his side of them bed.

Petula shook her head. "Everyone assumed that I was a game nerd, comic book geek growing up but I never had any real interests in it, in video games. Besides, Dad didn't want me around the bad influence of that stuff."

Jon groaned as he kicked off his boots. "Damn my feet hurt. I've been on the all day."

She looked at his sock covered feet. Petula wasn't put off by men's feet, she'd even massaged her Dad's feet all the way up to his death. So it came as second nature and she thought Jon was insinuating that he wanted his feet rubbed.

Just when Petula lightly pressed her fingers into the bottom of Jon's foot, he jerked so bad that he almost kneed Petula in the face.

"What the hell, Petula!" Jon yelled sitting up.

In a panic, she moved away from him. She was afraid that he was mad at her for what she did. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I thought, I thought…I didn't mean it."

"Damn, Babe, warn me next time. I forgot to mention I don't like people touching my feet."

"Personal space, right," she asked.

"No, I'm ticklish."

"Oh, um, sorry, I didn't know."

"That's because I didn't tell you, Babe. It's not your fault." He said as he reached for her. "Are you ticklish, Tula?"

"Um, I don't know. Because of my issues with being touched by people no one ever tried." She bit her lips as she glanced at Jon.

"Just tell me if you're uncomfortable." He pulled her down next to him. "We'll go slow." Jon propped his head up on his hand as he place his other hand on Petula's stomach, slightly under her shirt. "Let's see, are you tickling here?" He asked wiggling his fingers over her stomach.

"No." She kept her gaze on him, a little tense but allowing him to touch her.

He moved his hand up further under her shirt, up to her ribs on her right side. That's when Petula jerked and shrieked, pushing Jon's hand away.

"Oh, so you're ticklish there?" Jon grinned evilly at her.

"Don't, Jon." She tried moving away from him.

"Not happening, Babe."

Before Petula had a chance to react, Jon was tickling both sides of her right. She squealed and still tried to get away but Jon trapped her leg between his knees, pinning her to the bed and continue his assault on her. While she was laughing, Petula tried prying his hands off of her. And just as suddenly as Jon started he stopped.

She was breathing heavily from all the laughing, her hands on his and Jon was still holding her leg with his legs. But it didn't really make her uncomfortable. Jon didn't make her uncomfortable. Yet the roles were reversed because Jon looked scared. He thought he over stepped his limits with her.

"I'm sorry, Tula, I didn't mean for it to get this far." He said.

"It's okay, Jon. I'm fine. You didn't scare me. But could you get off me, I kind of need to pee now."

"Right, sorry." Jon shifted his weight and got off her. "I'm going to get ready for bed."

"Okay. I'll be right back." She smiled before getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom.

Jon was resting on his stomach when Petula got finished with the bathroom. As she passed him, she drug her fingers over Jon's foot and ran for the bed. Jon yelled out in shock, pushing himself up and launched himself at Petula. He easily picked her up and had pinned her to the bed she was heading for.

"Are you playing that game now?" Jon asked.

Without realizing what she was doing, Petula leaned up and kissed Jon.

* * *

**Well, that's an interesting update. What's your thoughts and reactions?**


	32. Chapter 32

The feel of Petula's lips on his was just as his dreams had been. The kiss was soft, pleasant and oh so addicting. The two of them were in the same position that Jon had wanted to be in for so long; him on top of her, her hands lingering about his face, his neck, his hair. She even moaned, not that she understood what she was doing to him with the little sounds she was doing.

But this couldn't happen. No, not in Jon's mind, this wasn't supposed to be happening not like this.

Jon pushed himself away, away from the warmth of her body, cursing himself back and forth for what he had done. His fingers ran angrily through his hair as he stepped away from the bed.

"Jon, what's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" Petula asked as she sat up in the bed.

"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong." He responded stopping himself from pacing. "It's just, we're not supposed to be doing this."

"Doing what, kissing?"

"I wanted you so fucking bad, Petula. I've been wanting you so bad for the longest time. But I don't want to scare you again."

"I'm not scared, Jon. Can you kiss me again?" She asked, draping her legs over the side of the bed. "Please?"

Just hearing her asking for him to do it again, well it nearly broke that barrier. That restraint he had built up since he started having those feelings for her.

"It starts out as a kiss, Petula." Jon shook his head. "I've been fighting my impulses, my desires every time you're around. If I kiss you now, I may not be able to get a hold of myself afterwards."

"What does that suppose to mean?"

"I will want to have sex with you. I know you take a while to get used to new things and I haven't totally gotten over my own issues with women yet."

Jon had come to stand in front of Petula, her looking up at him. Her shoulders were slumped, defeated. He wanted her so bad, he told her, but he wasn't willing to hurt her because of everything he had been doing in the last couple of years. Petula looked at him and then down at his fisted hands and his sides. She reached out and placed her hand over one of his, making his fingers open so that she could run her fingers over his palm. The innocence she possessed, it was not wonder why no other man had ever tried going after her, aside from Stu.

Jon had to shake his head of the Stu thought as Petula started talking again. "You don't want use me." She said, grasping his fingers. "So you won't kiss me because you think it will lead to more than that, to sex?"

"Yeah, Babe," said Jon as he looked away, almost in shame.

"Maybe you're wrong. Maybe you're just saying that because you don't want to."

"Don't want to?" Jon asked, looking back at her. Did she just say that?

"I'm not beautiful enough. I'm not good enough for someone like you." She choked on her own words, the words she had been fighting with for so long.

"Don't say that shit, Petula. You are. You are beautiful, you are good enough. But I refuse to disappoint you." He gripped her hand slightly, making her look up at him.

As she did so, Jon moved and sat down next to her on the bed.

"Why would you disappoint me, Jon?"

"Because, I'm not exactly the kind of guy you would want to come home with. I usually shack up for the night with some random chick if I'm, uh, too excited to fix it myself. So I love them for one night and leave them in the morning. Usually it's the skanks who come to the shows that want to have that one time with me, who want to have that fantasy with me."

"Okay. And you don't want to be with me because you don't want it to be like that?"

"Having a relationship on the road isn't the easiest."

"Yeah, I know. Chris Jericho explained it to me."

"So, if I'm dating you, and say you're back in LA then I don't want to have one night stands with women I don't know just because you're not there. That's what I don't want, Petula. I don't want to disappoint you by…by…"

"Stepping out of the relationship," she finished for him.

"Yeah, exactly. So you see why I don't want to disappoint you?" She nodded at his question. "I won't say that I am over my old habits. I still have women coming to me, and I have to either turn them down or just walk away. I've actually stopped going to clubs because of this."

Petula shifted so that she was facing Jon. "How did it start? How did you start using sex to supplement your needs?"

Damn, she was fast on catching onto things. "I think it was how I was raised. I watched my mom use sex to get what she wanted, mainly drugs. I was a street kid, scrapping so that I wasn't killed. I will admit, I have done drugs because and I'm not happy about that either. While running the streets of Cincinnati, Ohio I found wrestling, a gym that taught it. So when I was old enough I started training. A majority of my issues left but I still had that system of sex and happiness, you know."

"You think you get gratification by having sex, even if it's for one night?"

Jon shrugged. "Can't say it doesn't hurt."

"It will hurt if you're not careful." Petula reached over and put her hand on Jon's cheek. "I was coddled too, too, much because of my autism. Because of my savant skills, I felt more comfortable with robots. Trusting a human was a mystery to me. The only few I have trusted have died. But then I met you."

Jon looked at her.

"I'm afraid I will disappoint you." She added.

"I'm afraid I'll fail you, Petula."

"Can we be scared together, for tonight?" She pulled him down so that she was facing him on the pillows.

He moved his head closer to hers, afraid of what to do next. When she initiated the kiss, it was again soft and welcoming. No matter how many others he had been with, this soft and supple woman was the best. He nibbled at her lower lip, silently signaling her to open up for him. When she did, she felt his tongue brush against hers.

Petula pulled back, staring at Jon in shock. He thought he had done something wrong, again. But it wasn't that.

"I'm sorry, but…it's a strange feeling." She rested her head back down. "Stu never kissed me like that, with his tongue."

"I figured you had?"

"It feels funny, Jon. I feel things differently. But…it didn't feel bad. It felt weird."

"We don't have to do it again."

"We can, I just didn't expect it this time." She moved back to Jon.

Her nose touched his while her hand come up to rest on his neck. As her thumb rubbed his skin, she leaned in and kissed him again. This time she was the aggressor, nibbling at Jon's lip to gain access to him. Even though she was mimicking his actions it felt good she was willing to try it his way.

And she got more into it this time around. Once they found a rhythm, it was hard for either to stop. Jon was growing more passionate, in more ways than one, as he fought for the title of aggressor in this heated kiss. He had been gripping Petula's short hair, her fingers were now slightly digging into his neck and all the while the heat in the room boiled as they fought for control. Jon of his desires, Petula of her new found passion for Jon.

"We need to stop, Petula." Jon gasped, pulling away.

"Why?"

"I don't want this to go further than it has. I think it's better we just get some sleep and get up for our drive tomorrow." Jon pushed himself off the bed. "I need to use the bathroom."

Petula wanted to ask why, but from the funny way Jon was walking she got the answer she needed. So she laid back in the bed, looking at the ceiling, trying not to guess what Jon was doing in the bathroom. He had turned the fan on to drown out the noises he was making but every once in a while she could hear a groan. After a while, Jon came out of the bathroom, looking tired and warn out. He started making his way to his bed but Petula spoke up.

"Jon, the reason why I didn't want to sleep in the same bed as Stu was because he wanted to hold me. I don't want to be held when I'm sleeping." He looked at her as she pulled the covers back. "I like facing you."

She was willing to sleep in the same bed as him? When he didn't move, Petula walked up to him and pulled him back towards her bed. Together, and in silence, they got in bed together. While Jon lay there, Petula brought the blanket up over them, over their shoulders. So when she settled in, facing him, her hand came up to rest on his cheek. Simplicity in itself, Petula liked the simple things and Jon was getting used to the simple things.

The only touching they had were between their foreheads and Petula's hand on Jon's face.

They fell asleep this way. Their breaths were mingling together in the cool and quiet room.

* * *

Jon woke up first the next morning to find Petula facing away from him. Her short hair looked tossed and un-kept just like his hair at the moment. When she said she didn't like being held while she slept, he probably tried to do that in the night, not like he had remembered it.

Getting up, Jon decided he would get ready for the long drive from Las Vegas to LA he and Petula would have to take. As he was in the bathroom, Petula woke up.

"Jon?" She asked, sitting up on her side.

She thought he left, giving up on her. He wasn't there. Don't women usually wake up to find their boyfriends there in the morning? Defeated, she got up to get ready for the drive that was ahead of her.

"Shit, Petula!" Jon yelled as he pulled the shower curtain closed.

He had just finished getting a shower when she walked in. Instantly, Petula's hands covered her eyes, embarrassed that she had just walked in on Jon getting out of the shower. She banged into the door jam on her scramble to get out of there. Sure she had seen Jon shirtless, in shorts but she had never seen him in anything less than that. She had seen him…well, bare to the world. Human anatomy was only ever seen in books, not in flesh in front of her, just coming out of a shower.

Jon found her in the hotel room, rubbing her sore shoulder as she stared out the window. She was rocking back and forth slightly, staring out the window at the early morning sun that was coming up over The Strip. He'd scared her. He knew that was not what he had wanted to do.

"Petula," he said softly, daring not to touch her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She repeated, rocking slightly more, rubbing her shoulder.

"Babe, it's okay. I should have locked the door. You didn't know."

She shrugged, still rubbing her shoulder. "I thought you left me."

"Why would I leave you?"

"You…I…I guess it's just an irrational thought. Because Stu left when he had a chance to get what he wanted…"

"I'm nothing like him, Petula. I just wanted to take a shower before we had to go. Maybe you should take one as well. We have a long haul ahead of us. And I do mean us, we're going to do this together." He said, making her look at him. "I promise, we're doing this together."

Later, as they were leaving Vegas behind them, it occurred to Jon. They had been kissing a lot. When Petula had gone to take a shower, she kissed him. As they were packing up their things, Jon kissed her. Simple little kisses. Soft little touches. But he had never asked her to go out with him. Why?

"Jon," Petula spoke up.

"Yeah, Babe," he asked as he glanced at her.

"I have wanted to kiss you for the longest time. Before this, before last night, before this morning, I have wanted to kiss you for the longest time."

Jon nodded. "Same here, Tula," he admitted. "I just didn't know if it would scare you. Also by the time I got the balls to admit it, you were with Stu. So I just didn't want to press you after that."

That's when he felt it. Petula had reached over and grasped his free hand, resting the hold together on his thigh. Her fingers were wrapped around his, squeezing slightly. It was a simple touch amongst other simple touches; one that he fully accepted and enjoyed. Now if Jon could just hold onto that feeling, that strange and wondrous feeling he craved for at the moment, then it would make living a whole lot easier for him.

* * *

**There you go, another update. It took me a while to come up with something for you guys to read. Also I have a question. Did I make Jon out to be a total sap in here? What do you think?**


	33. Chapter 33

Three hours of driving and a pit stop in between, Petula and Jon arrived in LA around noon. The trip itself was uneventful, quiet except for one point when Petula received a phone call.

They had just gotten inside the California state line when Petula's phone rang. Jon turned off the classic rock music he and Petula had been listening to. He'd been surprised when Petula had turned that channel on during the drive, Jon didn't think she was interested in that type of stuff but then again, she didn't divulge a lot of details. He had to guess half of the time.

"Yes, that would be fine. Come by around three. Jon won't leave until tonight. Jon? Oh, he's my, um, friend." She sound like she didn't know how to answer the question she was asked. "All right, yeah, see you then."

As she hung up, Petula sighed, leaning her head against the window.

"What is it, Babe? Who was that?" Jon asked, having tried to piece together the one side conversation he'd just listened to.

"It was Tabitha. She's filming a movie in Hollywood. We sort of arranged to meet up."

"Huh, really," Jon asked.

"I gave her permission to give our mother my number but I haven't heard from her yet. But Tabitha seems willing to get to know me. I guess she feels sorry about our mother betraying my Dad, about abandoning me."

Jon had heard about the affair Virginia had, resulting in her leaving with the other man after learning Petula was autistic. It was her feeling like she wasn't good enough for people that angered Jon. She was good enough, but everyone else wasn't giving her a chance because of her autism. It annoyed the hell out of Jon to no end.

"As long as she respects you, I'm fine with it." Jon finally said before turning the music back on.

So they were back to silence. It was a silence Petula could deal with, one where Jon reached over and took her hand in his, resting them on his leg as he drove. That's all she needed to know. That he was right there with her, through it all.

Once they had gotten back to Petula's apartment, Jon watched her put her things away. Jon's things were still in the car, the rental he would be taking to the airport when he left. Well most of her things were being packed away. She had silently refused to have anything to do with the PS3 and the game her friends and coworkers had given her. Jon noticed that the system and game were left on the floor next to the couch, out of the way so she wouldn't have to deal with them. Out of sight, out of mind, so while Petula was putting her other things away Jon set the system up in the front room.

"What are you doing, Jon?" Petula asked walking into the front room.

"I was bored and I want to play a game before I have to fly out tonight." He responded.

"I was just going to donate that stuff because I will not likely use them." She crossed her arms.

"Come on, Babe. It's like a computer and computers are sort of like robots. You're going to make yourself a character on this game and you're going to play." Jon smirked.

"I thought you said you were going to play?"

"I would rather watch you play."

Sometimes Petula didn't like that smile Jon was giving her.

* * *

One of the playable characters was a cat humanoid thing. Skyrim, that's what it was called. It was a character based game, an RPG where she could create her own character. So she chose a cat, called a Khajiit only because it appealed to her visually more so than anything else.

"Khajiits are a stealthy feline species who are notorious for their thieving abilities," she said as she was tinkering around with making the right female character. "So she needs to be dark. Oh, smoke colored, perfect."

Jon was sitting next to her, enjoying how one moment she didn't appear to want anything to do with the game and now she was more than ready to jump into a character. He's only ever played some with other superstars, someone like Phil Brooks brought game systems on the road, especially those that have private transportations. He himself wasn't much of a gamer but there were some guys that were really into videogames of all sorts. Again, Phil Brooks, but also Cody Rhodes.

"What are you going to name your character?" Jon asked when she was finished creating the snowy leopard like Khajiit with Lynx ear tuffs.

"Panthera, it's Spanish for Jaguar. I think it's an exotic name for a strange character." She replied as she selected the letters from the game system. "Are there other Elder Scrolls games if this is labeled five?"

"I guess, why?"

"I'd like to know what the history of this game franchise is. Maybe I would like to see the different game play for the other ones." She said as the game began with a crash and roar as a dragon appeared. "Nerts!"

Jon could see how relaxed Petula was as her focus was zoned in on the game. She was focused on something that took her mind off of things, other than playing with robots. It was getting her out of her normal pattern of relaxation, getting her to try different things. At least it would be for a little while. It looked like she was actually enjoying herself.

But he would leave soon. And they haven't really discussed where they stood in this relationship and after the night before, Jon wanted to know how Petula felt for him. He didn't want to push the issue because he didn't want her to move away from him emotionally. After all, she was pushing her limits herself. Why add to the stress?

The doorbell rang. It was around three o'clock, having gotten in around noon themselves. This left Jon three more hours to be with Petula before he had to go to LAX. Petula paused the game and headed for the door. Jon was aware that Tabitha Stapleton would be there, but not dressed to seduce.

Did she always wear cloths that made both him and Petula look they were scrounges?

"I'm sorry, I forgot you were coming over. I, Jon's here." She glanced at the man. "This is Tabitha, my sister, Jon."

"Hi." Jon stood up.

"I know this is awkward…" Tabitha bit her lip when seeing him there.

"It's fine. Tula's explained what happened the last time. But you do know how protective I am of her, right?"

"I have an idea, yes."

Jon wasn't too keen on Tabitha. She was like a lot of women he's encountered with in his life. She obviously had an image to keep.

"Did you settle in all right at your apartment?" Petula asked, closing the door behind Tabitha.

"Yeah, thanks for asking. You're the only one who's asked, actually." Tabitha went and sat down in one of the chairs in the living room, bypassing Jon completely.

"Wouldn't your parents ask it? I'm sorry, I'm having issues with what to call our mother." Petula said picking up the PS3 controller to save her game.

"No worries. Half of the time she barely acted like a mother to me."

"Why?"

"I think it had something to do with you, Petula. She seemed scared, I don't know. But Dad always made sure she wasn't in charge."

"Control over a human is not a good thing." Petula stated as she turned off the game system. "Robots don't have emotions to hurt. I guess that's why I like them so much."

"Um, yeah, I guess you're right. I guess to Dad everything had to be perfect." Tabitha looked down at her exquisitely perfect fingernails. "But you had a better life than I have."

"I doubt that." Petula countered. "No one in this room had a simple life. I was bullied so bad, I won't hesitate to admit I wanted to kill myself because I was never perfect. Jon was a street kid and you weren't hugged enough. I still have to deal with people like AJ Lee more closely now. And an ex-boyfriend."

"You and Stu broke up? You looked so good together."

"I thought so, too. But…I guess I wasn't worth the wait for him." She shrugged, sitting on the couch.

"Don't feed this to TMZ. She's been hazed enough online that it pisses me off people think so little of her."

"Wow, um, I don't know what to say. Just wow. I thought you two were great for each other." Tabitha said.

"I have my social issues. About being held, I've sort of started getting over my issues with hugging, but that's only with people I know and trust."

Tabitha stayed quiet for a moment. "Are you two seeing each other?"

That's what Jon wondered.

"We're still trying to figure that out." He found Petula answering, looking at Jon for confirmation. "But…"

"Then I should go. We can have other chances to be together." Tabitha said as she stood up.

For once Jon was grateful that someone took a hint. His protectiveness over Petula was tangible to Tabitha. That's probably why she had suggested that she would come back again.

"I'll call later and we can see how our schedules match up."

Petula saw Tabitha out, being nice and respectful of her half sister. But when she turned around, Petula had a different look on her face.

"She never did anything to me, Jon." She said through almost clinched teeth.

"Babe…"

"Don't Babe me. I can handle myself, Jon. She's just like me, she didn't have parents that didn't care. When I grew up, yes I had a father that cared but it seemed like no one else did. She understands me…" Petula shook slightly with anger.

"I fucked up, didn't I?" He asked, approaching her.

"I don't know. But you were a jerk to her. Just because her father was a jerk to you doesn't make her the same. It doesn't give you the right to treat her like she is. The apple doesn't always fall close to the tree, you know."

Jon finally stood in front of her. "I'm just watching out for you, Babe." He tilted her chin up with one finger. "But if I'm overbearing, tell me."

"She's my sister, Jon. She's the only one that seems to want to know me. Yes, I know you care, that you want the best for me. But I finally found a family member that is actually trying to be in my life, who is trying her best to understand me." Petula's lower lip quivered slightly.

Jon dipped down and pressed his lips to her before pulling back slightly. "I get it, Babe. I won't make it a big deal. But if something does happen, I want you to get a hold of me."

"I will." She pressed her head into his chest. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For being a brat about how you treated Tabitha. I didn't mean to get mad at you."

"No need, Babe. You were just being you. You were protecting the dignity of those you trust. It just shows how a big sister like you treats her little sister."

He felt her nod. Her fingers played with the hair on the back side of his neck, twirling the curls slightly. Oh he was going to miss this, he was going to miss it a lot and it would be torture once he had her back in his arms again.

"We need to talk about stuff." Jon finally said.

"What sort of stuff?" Petula looked up at him, her chin propped up on his chest.

"Are we a couple?"

Instantly her arms fell away from him and she stepped away. Great, Jon thought. He screwed it up again.

"Jon, I…"

Here it comes.

Jon held his breath as Petula looked up at him.

* * *

**Yep, I'm evil. This cliffhanger isn't just for you guys, it's for me. I don't really know how to make the next chapter go, I've been in a slump with this stuff for a while now. Is it too soon for Petula and Jon to get together? Or should they jump the gun and try it? I mean they are going to be apart for a few months. What do all of you think? Also, did this chapter make any sense at all. For the life of me, as I reread over it, it just seemed oddly paced to me.**


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